Attorney General Merrick Garland warned of threats to U.S. democracy, citing violence including the 2021 riot at the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, rollbacks in voting rights and possible legislative efforts to overturn the outcome of elections.
“A democracy cannot survive if its citizens forsake the rule of law in favor of violence or threats of violence,” Garland said in a commencement speech Sunday at Harvard University, his alma mater.
The Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection while Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s election as president aimed at “interfering with a fundamental element of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” he said.
He pledged that the Department of Justice will “hold accountable everyone who was criminally responsible for the January 6 assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Some Democrats have criticized Garland as moving too slowly or indecisively to uncover those who helped direct the assault, including the possibility of pursuing associates of Donald Trump or the former president himself.
Garland issued a broader set of warnings, telling the 2022 graduates that they’re “the next generation that must devote yourselves to preserving our democracy.”
He cited a Supreme Court ruling last year limiting the Voting Rights Act, saying subsequent legislative actions have made it harder for millions of people to vote.
“And there may be worse to come,” he said. “Some have even suggested giving state legislatures the power to set aside the choice of the voters themselves.”
“That is not the way a representative democracy is supposed to work,” he said.
Permeated by violence
He also warned of the corrosive effect of violence and its threat, from the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas to dangers for “our fellow citizens — who administer our elections, ensure our safe travel, treat the sick, teach the children.”
“These threats and acts of violence are permeating so many parts of our national life that they are becoming normalized and routine,” he said.
