Ted Cruz grills Merrick Garland on satirical Nazi salutes, and 5 other moments from today's Senate hearing

Perhaps unsurprisingly, things grew rather heated (and bizarre) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, in which Attorney General Merrick Garland was blasted by Republicans for his "intimidating" memo pledging support to school officials facing rising violence in their districts, reports USA Today.

To start, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) classified Garland's testimony, official "directive," and entire "performance" as "shameful," before calling on him to "resign in disgrace." "Thank God you're not on the Supreme Court," Cotton exclaimed. Garland otherwise defended his decision to issue the Oct. 4 school board memo, and explained his motives for doing so throughout the hearing.

See more

Cotton also wanted to know if the Department of Justice had begun investigating the protesters who followed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) into a bathroom earlier this month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
See more

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) ended his time by calling on Garland to resign, as well.

See more

Meanwhile, Garland pushed back on assertions that the memorandum would have a "chilling impact" on parents' constitutional rights.

See more

And of course, it wouldn't be a Senate hearing roundup without a memorable moment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who questioned Garland over Americans' right to use satirical Nazi salutes at school board meetings before grilling the AG over his son-in-law and critical race theory.

See more

All in all, it looked to be quite an exhausting hearing for Garland, who somehow managed to keep his cool. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), on the other hand, eventually had enough of the day's antics.

See more
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.