In his first year and more as Biden’s attorney general, Garland has consistently pursued policies and made decisions consistent with his reputation for judicial caution. In a controversial ruling nearly a year ago, Garland’s department said it would continue to defend Trump against writer E. Jean Carroll’s legal efforts to sue Trump for defamation. Carroll claimed she was raped by Trump in a department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denied this, saying Carroll was “not [his] type.” Carroll sued Trump for defamation. But Barr’s Justice Department argued that Trump was entitled to protection under an arcane law granting immunity from civil suit to federal employees in certain circumstances, and Garland’s Justice Department said it would continue to defend Trump.Last year, the department also persuaded U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to allow it to keep a section of a memo from Barr’s advisers outlining the legal arguments supporting a March 2019 decision by Barr not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice.

In other areas, Garland’s department was more assertive. Civil rights enforcement has been a focus, with the attorney general advancing federal investigations into the killing of African Americans such as George Floyd and into alleged racism in multiple police departments, including Minneapolis, Louisville and Phoenix. . The department also filed lawsuits against the states of Texas and Georgia, alleging that the new voter registration laws were discriminatory. Following a DOJ plea deal with two of the three white men convicted of murdering black Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery, Garland publicly appeared to cry when asked about the case.

Recent public statements by Garland, whose spokespersons have not responded to multiple requests for interviews with him or his key aides, regarding the direction of the investigation have been disturbing, but also ambiguous. In a publicly broadcast speech to Justice Department officials ahead of the one-year anniversary of the riot, Garland explicitly pledged, “The actions we have taken thus far will not be the last…The Department of Justice Justice remains determined to organize the whole day of January 6th. the perpetrators, at all levels, responsible under the law, whether they were present that day or were criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy… We will follow the facts wherever they lead. After listing the types of people who have been threatened with violence by far-right activists, ranging from election officials to airline crews, journalists, teachers, elected officials, lawmakers, police, prosecutors and judges, Garland noted that there is “no First Amendment right to unlawfully threaten to harm or kill someone.”