By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
Fox16.com is reporting that Joe Biden is set to name Merrick Garland his nominee for Attorney General of the United States on Thursday.
Merrick Garland currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and was nominated for supreme court justice in 2016 by President Barack Obama. The nomination lingered in the Senate gaining no action and died when Donald Trump took office.
Garland’s track record on Second Amendment issues is far from stellar. In an Op-Ed column in the USA Today from 2016, Michael E. Hammond writes [Second Amendment issues have come before Garland, at least four times. He voted anti-gun every time.
In 2007, Garland was one of four judges on the District of Columbia Circuit who voted for the full court to rehear a pro-gun holding of a three-judge panel overturning Washington’s draconian gun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller.
Garland has also voted for the FBI to retain NICS background check data and to allow prosecution of possession of automatic firearms charges without the prosecutor proving that the defendant knew that the firearm was fully automatic.
Confirmation of Garland seems likely as since 2013 only 51 votes are required to confirm cabinet-level positions, not the 60 that were previously required.
One positive that can be gleaned from the appointment is that should Garland become Attorney General, he leaves a lifetime appointment to the DC Circuit. A Biden administration cannot last forever and when it ends the influence of Garland would likely end with it.
