WASHINGTON: Merrick Garland is joining a small club, including a couple of Supreme Court justices, who gave up lifetime jobs as a federal judge because a president, or soon-to-be president, asked them to.
The 68-year-old Garland, Joe Bidens pick for attorney general, said the chance to run the Justice Department was too good to refuse.
I have loved being a judge. But to serve as attorney general at this critical time, to lead the more than 113,000 dedicated men and women who work at the department to ensure the rule of law, is a calling I am honored and eager to answer, Garland said Thursday as he was formally introduced as Bidens choice. He previously served at the department in the 1990s.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would move a few short blocks west on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington from the courthouse where he has served on the federal appeals court since 1997.
Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court nearly five years ago, but Republicans who controlled the…
