Why Garland's DOJ is siding with the Trump administration in several cases

Attorney General Merrick Garland is facing some criticism from Democrats because his Justice Department has sided with the Trump administration on several matters in court, including the fact that it announced this week it will continue to defend Trump in a defamation suit filed by E. Jean Carroll, who has also alleged he raped her.
The progressive watchdog group Revolving Door Project is tracking the lawsuits against the Trump administration that the Biden Justice Department has inherited and found that the latter is backing the former in at least a dozen. Revolving Door Project's founder, Jeff Hauser, told The Hill why he thinks that is.
"Garland's approach seems to be to minimize as much as possible any discontinuity in position after the election," he said. "He wants to make the transition from Trump to Biden as small as possible in the Justice Department. And so across an extremely wide array of issue areas, the Garland Justice Department is reaching legal conclusions which are incongruous for the Biden administration and for where the vast majority of center-left and progressive lawyers and legal scholars are."
Subscribe to 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.
What Hauser is less sure of is where Garland might draw the line. "The question I have for Garland is what would we have to learn about [former Attorneys General] Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr for them to lose the benefit of the doubt with you?" he told The Hill. Read more at The Hill.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why are sinkholes becoming more common?
Podcast Plus, will Saudi investment help create the "Netflix of sport"? And why has New Zealand's new tourism campaign met with a savage reception?
By The Week UK Published
-
How Poland became Europe's military power
The Explainer Warsaw has made its armed forces a priority as it looks to protect its borders and stay close to the US
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 15 - 21 February
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Trump seeks to end New York's congestion pricing
Speed Read The MTA quickly filed a lawsuit to stop the move
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump officials try to reverse DOGE-led firings
Speed Read Mass firings by Elon Musk's team have included employees working on the H5N1 bird flu epidemic and US nuclear weapons programs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump blames Ukraine for war after US-Russia talks
Speed Read The US and Russia have agreed to work together on ending the Ukraine war — but President Trump has flipped America's approach
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Musk's DOGE seeks access to IRS, Social Security files
Speed Read If cleared, the Department of Government Efficiency would have access to tax returns, bank records and other highly personal information about most Americans
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as health secretary
Speed Read The noted vaccine skeptic is now in charge of America's massive public health system
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump lays out plans for broad 'reciprocal' tariffs
Speed Read Tariffs imposed on countries that are deemed to be treating the US unfairly could ignite a global trade war and worsen American inflation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Top US prosecutors resign rather than drop Adams case
speed read The interim US attorney for the Southern District and five senior Justice Department officials quit following an order to drop the charges against Mayor Eric Adams
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Senate confirms Gabbard as intelligence chief
Speed Read The controversial former Democratic lawmaker, now Trump loyalist, was sworn in as director of national intelligence
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published