If you want to understand why U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is arguably the most polarizing figure in recent American legal history, you have to look past the soft-spoken, librarian-like exterior. For four years, he stood at the center of a political hurricane. People on the left screamed that he was too slow. People on the right claimed he was "weaponizing" the law. It was a lot.
Honestly, the guy just wanted to be a judge. But history had other plans.
By the time he stepped down in early 2025, his legacy wasn't just about one case or one defendant. It was about an institutional philosophy that felt like it belonged to a different century. He believed in the "departmental" way of doing things. No drama. No tweets. Just the facts. In an era of 24-hour outrage, that was either his greatest strength or his most frustrating flaw, depending on who you ask.
The Man Who Waited (and Waited)
Merrick Garland wasn't a newcomer to the Department of Justice when Joe Biden tapped him in 2021. He was a veteran.
Back in the 90s, he was the guy on the ground after the Oklahoma City bombing. He saw the carnage. He coordinated the response. That experience baked a certain "law and order" DNA into him that never really left. Most people only remember him as the guy Mitch McConnell blocked from the Supreme Court in 2016. That 293-day wait for a hearing that never came? It defined him in the public eye.
But when he finally became the U.S. Attorney General, he didn't come in looking for revenge. He came in looking for "normalcy."
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He inherited a DOJ that was, frankly, a mess. Morale was in the basement. Career prosecutors were quitting. Garland’s first mission was basically a giant internal therapy session. He told the staff that the rule of law was back. He promised that politics wouldn't touch their cases.
Why the "Slow Move" Narrative Took Hold
You’ve probably heard the complaints. "Why did it take so long to investigate January 6th?" "Why did he wait years to appoint Jack Smith?"
Garland’s approach was methodical to a fault. He built the investigation like a pyramid, starting with the people who breached the doors and working his way up. To his critics, this was a catastrophic delay. To his defenders, it was the only way to ensure the cases wouldn't be tossed out of court for being politically motivated.
It's kinda fascinating when you think about it. The very thing he did to avoid appearing political—taking his time and following every procedure—is exactly what made him appear political to his detractors.
Major Milestones of the Garland Era
- The Special Counsels: He didn't just appoint one; he appointed three. Jack Smith for the Trump investigations, Robert Hur for the Biden documents case, and David Weiss for the Hunter Biden probe.
- Civil Rights Resurgence: He aggressively used "pattern or practice" investigations into police departments like those in Minneapolis and Louisville.
- Antitrust Heat: Under his watch, the DOJ went after big tech and massive corporations. We're talking Visa, Google, and even the TD Bank money-laundering settlement that topped $3 billion.
- The War Crimes Unit: He pushed the DOJ into international waters, charging Russian military personnel with war crimes against Americans in Ukraine.
The Contempt Vote and the Final Year
Things got really messy toward the end. In June 2024, the House of Representatives actually voted to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. Why? Because he wouldn't hand over the audio recordings of President Biden's interview with Robert Hur.
Garland stood his ground. He claimed executive privilege. He said he was protecting the integrity of future investigations.
But the political pressure was relentless. By the time he gave his farewell speech at the DOJ in January 2025, he looked like a man who had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn't go out with a bang. He went out with a reminder: "The law is not a tool of any one person or any one party."
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Life After the Department of Justice
So, where is he now?
In May 2025, Merrick Garland returned to his roots. He rejoined the law firm Arnold & Porter as a partner. It’s a full-circle moment. He had been a partner there back in the 80s before he started his long climb up the federal ladder.
He’s 73 now. Instead of managing 115,000 employees and the most sensitive criminal cases in the country, he’s back to appellate law and "crisis management." It's a quieter life, though he remains a target for political rhetoric in the 2026 election cycle.
What Most People Get Wrong About Him
Most people think Garland was a "liberal lion" because he was Obama’s pick for the Court. In reality, he was always a centrist. Even a bit conservative when it came to criminal law.
He wasn't trying to be a hero for the left or a villain for the right. He was trying to be a bureaucrat in the best sense of the word. He believed in the process. In a world that wants results yesterday, Garland was the guy who wanted to check the footnotes one more time.
Whether that saved the DOJ or simply stalled the inevitable is a question historians will be arguing about for the next fifty years.
Actionable Insights for Following Legal News
If you’re trying to keep track of the "new" DOJ under the current administration, keep these things in mind:
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- Watch the Special Counsels: The reports they leave behind are more important than the headlines. Read the actual summaries.
- Look at the Budget: If you want to know a DOJ's real priorities, look at where they are putting the money—is it civil rights, border enforcement, or white-collar crime?
- Check the Dissent: When a DOJ official resigns or writes a memo, pay attention. That’s where the real internal policy shifts are revealed.
Merrick Garland's time as the U.S. Attorney General is over, but the debate over how he handled the most "impossible" job in Washington is just getting started. If you want to understand the current state of American law, you have to understand the man who tried to keep it "boring" while the world was on fire.
To stay updated on current Department of Justice investigations and the ongoing fallout from the Garland era, you can monitor the official DOJ news feed or check the latest appellate court filings from Arnold & Porter for his recent work.