WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, (Xinhua/GNA) – U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Merrick Garland as his attorney general, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday.
U.S. media said that Garland prevailed over former Senator Doug Jones of Alabama and former deputy attorney general Sally Yates from the shortlist, and Biden is expected to announce the nomination on Thursday.
Garland, 68, served as chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2013 to 2020. In 2016, then president Barack Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but the Republican-controlled Senate thwarted his nomination.
The reports of Garland’s nomination came as Democrats are on the brink of controlling the Senate. Democrats earlier in the day declared victory in two U.S. Senate runoffs in the southeastern state of Georgia, while their Republicans opponents haven’t conceded.
Democrat Raphael Warnock has been projected to win against incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler. Democrat Jon Ossoff held a small lead against Republican David Perdue as of Wednesday noon in the other runoff, though no major U.S. media networks projected a clear winner.
GNA