Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland to say US does 'not yet have equal justice'

Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden's nominee to serve as Attorney General, is slated to say during a Monday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that America still has not achieved "equal justice."

According to prepared remarks, Garland will say that "we do not yet have equal justice. Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system; and bear the brunt of the harm caused by pandemic, pollution, and climate change."

Garland's hearing comes five years after Senate Republicans blocked his nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. 

Garland's prepared remarks for the Monday hearing include reference to his past actions, and a look toward cases that he expects to prosecute.

"From 1995 to 1997, I supervised the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, who sought to spark a revolution that would topple the federal government," he will say, according to the remarks. "If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 -- a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government."