#Merrick Garland is a great pick to restore confidence in DOJ

Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland is finally getting his day in the sun: President-elect Joe Biden has tapped him to be the next attorney general.

It’s a sound choice that will also give Democrats some symbolic satisfaction after the GOP-run Senate refused to consider his nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.

More important — and in a break with recent Democratic presidencies — he’s well-suited to keep partisan politics out of Justice Department decision-making.

Garland served at Justice under two presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, prosecuting the high-profile cases against Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City bombings and Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski.

In 25 years on the DC Circuit, Garland has proven himself a gifted, scrupulous judge. As a proven centrist, he already has the backing of Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Susan Collins (Maine), who all cite his integrity and independence and say they’ll be happy to see him run the FBI.

Given the shenanigans at Justice under the last Democratic president, we hope that Garland will play things straight.