Attorney General Merrick Garland is under fire from the left, and now, even from his own former Harvard constitutional law professor, after Special Counsel Robert Hur's final report on President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents included what experts say were partisanremarks about the President that violated Dept. of Justice practice.
"Merrick Garland will be one of the greatest Attorneys General in American history, bar none. As my brilliant con law student, a principled prosecutor, and later a superb DC Circuit judge, he has displayed integrity, courage, fair-mindedness, and humanity," wrote Laurence Tribe, on January 6, 2021, upon the announcement Biden would appoint Garland as the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Now a University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, Tribe taught constitutional law at Harvard Law for decades. In addition to Garland, among his most famous students and research assistants are Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Jamie Raskin, and Adam Schiff.
Tribe appears to have since soured on his former student's leadership of the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
On Sunday, Tribe pointed to this passage from a Politico article: "The president believes the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents went beyond his remit. And part of the blame is being placed on the AG."
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Tribe added, "As it should be. I’ve long respected my friend and former student Merrick Garland but he has bent too far backwards in order to avoid seeming pro-Biden."
Tribe also cited an Associated Press report from Sunday: "Bob Bauer, as Biden’s personal lawyer, rightly 'raised concerns over the inclusion of these details to both Hur and Garland.' Garland should’ve granted Bauer’s appeal because Hur’s report violated DOJ 'norms that work to avoid prejudicing the public against people who are not charged with a crime.'"
On Friday, professor of law, frequent MSNBC legal analyst, and former top DOJ official Andrew Weissmann wrote, "It was entirely foreseeable Rob Hur would pull a Comey in his report. Garland was [100%] right to have appointed a Special Counsel but wrong to pick Hur and to think only a Republican could fit the bill."
Tribe responded: "It’s time we invented a verb for that kind of move. I propose we call it 'garlanding' or 'pulling a garland.'"
On Sunday, Tribe reposted video of former Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, J. Michael Luttig repeatedly calling the Hur report "an abuse of power." Tribe commented: "It was indeed. A gross abuse, and one the Attorney General should have intervened to correct."
This is not the first time Tribe has criticized Garland. There are more than half-a-dozen times Tribe directly or indirectly leveled criticism at the Attorney General, largely surrounding what some see as an extremely lengthy delay in bringing criminal charges against Donald Trump.
For example, Tribe pulled this quote from this piece: “The languid pace at which AG Merrick Garland pursued January 6 cases must count as a but-for cause of the overlap between the litigation calendar and the political calendar.”
"He just needs to step on the accelerator," Tribe wrote in August of 2022.
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In November of 2022, Tribe wrote: "Good morning, Merrick Garland. You awake?"
Just days later: "Yes. Time's up, DOJ. I know that Merrick Garland, who has devoted his life to the rule of law, will do the right thing. But that requires him to indict now. Even waiting till the Dec. 6 runoff would be wrong, and there's no excuse for delaying things by naming a special counsel."
One year ago in February: "If AG Garland isn’t interested in how the Barr/Durham Crime spree has perverted justice and degraded DOJ, then the Department’s IG should follow the smelly trail and expose its putrid source."
In June of last year: "Great journalism has shown Garland and Monaco well-intentioned but profoundly unwise in slow-walking the investigation into Trump and those around him. Their fear of looking political backfired badly. Whether the harm was irreparable remains to be seen."
The following month: "The J6 House Committee is the reason AG Garland was finally forced to appoint Special Counsel Jack Smith. Without the great work of that Committee, Merrick Garland might’ve hemmed and hawed forever."