Merrick Garland assures senators he'd resign as attorney general if asked to do something unethical

Merrick Garland.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Judge Merrick Garland, President Biden's nominee for attorney general, has spent a fair amount of time telling Republican senators during his confirmation hearing Monday that he'll operate as independently as possible in the role, and it appears they were satisfied with his assurances.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked Garland if he would resign in response to any unlawful or unethical requests from the executive branch. The judge explained he would first tell "the president or whoever else was asking me to do that" that the request was, in fact, unlawful. But, Garland continued, if he was unable to divert the plan to a more ethical course, he would indeed step down.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.