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.
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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) ended his time by calling on Garland to resign, as well.
Meanwhile, Garland pushed back on assertions that the memorandum would have a "chilling impact" on parents' constitutional rights.
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.
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.
-
Film reviews: ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ and ‘Eternity’Feature Grief inspires Shakespeare’s greatest play, a flamboyant sleuth heads to church and a long-married couple faces a postmortem quandary
-
Poems can force AI to reveal how to make nuclear weaponsUnder The Radar ‘Adversarial poems’ are convincing AI models to go beyond safety limits
-
The military: When is an order illegal?Feature Trump is making the military’s ‘most senior leaders complicit in his unlawful acts’
-
Honduras votes amid Trump push, pardon vowspeed read President Trump said he will pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving 45 years for drug trafficking
-
Congress seeks answers in ‘kill everybody’ strike reportSpeed Read Lawmakers suggest the Trump administration’s follow-up boat strike may be a war crime
-
Could Trump run for a third term?The Explainer Constitutional amendment limits US presidents to two terms, but Trump diehards claim there is a loophole
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Ted Cruz teases big 2028 movesIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Texas Republican is playing his cards close to his chest, even as others in Washington start looking for hints about the arch-conservative’s future
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
