Legal scholar Laurence Tribe says Attorney General Merrick Garland has a duty to investigate former President Donald Trump for the insurrection of January 6 or risk the country’s future.
“We need to begin with the fundamental precept that not all crimes are created equal,” Tribe wrote in an op-ed for The Boston Globe. “Those crimes — regardless of who allegedly commits them — whose very aim is to overturn a fair election whereby our tradition of peaceful, lawful succession from one administration to the next takes place — a tradition begun by George Washington, continued by John Adams, and preserved by every president since except Donald Trump — are impossible to tolerate if we are to survive as a constitutional republic.”
Tribe goes on to observe that Trump’s “relentless has laid bare the defects” in a multitude of the United States’ accountability mechanisms. He refers to Garland as “the final line of defense for our constitutional democracy.”
“No prior attorney general has confronted so daunting a challenge,” he added. “For what might be the first time in his life and what will surely be the last, Garland could hold the future of the last best hope on earth in his hands.”
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During his February 2021 confirmation hearing, Garland vowed to fully prosecute the “heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy.” However, the Justice Department has faced criticism that it is moving too slowly, provoking concerns that Garland’s actions have not matched his rhetoric.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
