'Ruthless Bobby,' we need you
I feel a sense of fulfillment as I watch and listen to Attorney General Merrick Garland do his job on behalf of those of us anxious to get to the bottom of what happened on 1/6.
However, a dear friend of mine wondered aloud today how the Justice Department might handle the matter were it run by the late Robert F. Kennedy, who served as AG from 1961 to 1964. My pal said Donald Trump’s minions would be “shaking in their boots” if RFK were standing his post.
I retain that sense of fulfillment nonetheless with Merrick Garland at the DOJ helm.
Why is that? In early 2016, President Barack H. Obama nominated Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed the iconic conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly while vacationing in Texas. Garland had served with distinction on the D.C. Appeals Court, so Obama thought he’d be a good fit for the highest court in the land.
The Republican majority leader in the Senate said “not so fast.” He blocked Garland’s appointment by declaring we were “too close” to a presidential election. Mitch McConnell wanted to wait until the 2016 election concluded. He was hoping the GOP nominee would win. His dream came true with the election of Donald J. Trump, who then selected the first of three justices to the high court.
Back to RFK. A side of me disliked the “ruthless” tag that Kennedy’s foes hung on him. However, given what might have stood before him in the present day I tend to wish now for a serious dose of RFK’s ruthlessness. Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa felt it back in the 1950s when Kennedy served as general counsel to the Senate Rackets Committee and then later when he rooted out corruption in Hoffa’s union while serving as AG during his brother’s administration. Indeed, when RFK was murdered in June 1968, Hoffa was said to have relished the thought that his longtime enemy was dead.
That was then. The here and now has put Merrick Garland on the front line of a serious case of corruption and nefarious intent involving another administration.
DOJ has indicted former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on a contempt of Congress charge. There appears to be more indictments on the horizon. To his great credit, Merrick Garland has shown he is willing to get tough when the need arises … and it has done so!
AG Garland might not be wired with the tenacity that gripped his predecessor, Robert Kennedy. However, I am going to exhibit faith that he will do as he pledged, to “follow the law” no matter where it takes him.