Attorney General Garland Delivers Remarks at the National Association of Attorneys General

The same is true with respect to our second co-equal priority: protecting civil rights.

The Justice Department began its work in 1870 enforcing the rights promised by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and confronting the Ku Klux Klan and others who used terror and violence to keep Black Americans from exercising their civil rights.

151 years later, protecting civil rights and addressing unlawful acts of hate remain central to our mission.

That is why my first directive as Attorney General was to order a review to determine how the department could deploy all the tools at its disposal to counter the rise in hate crimes and hate incidents. As that review was nearing completion, Congress passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. In light of our review and that new law, the Justice Department is taking a number of steps to enhance our efforts to combat unlawful acts of hate. We are ensuring that the department improves hate crime reporting; increases law enforcement training and coordination at all levels of government; prioritizes community outreach; and makes better use of our civil enforcement tools. I am grateful for the leadership of Attorney General Racine and this association in making combatting hate crimes a priority. And I am grateful for your partnership in addressing the significant increase in reported hate crimes and hate incidents that we have witnessed since the beginning of the pandemic.

Alongside our enforcement efforts, we recognize that in order to uphold the promise of equal justice under law, we must also work to provide equal access to justice. In March,* the department began a comprehensive review of its access-to-justice work. As a part of that process, we heard from stakeholders nationwide – including many of your offices. In light of the initial findings of that review, we have restored a stand-alone Office for Access to Justice within the department. The office’s mission is to work in partnership with those on the front lines to identify and address the most urgent legal needs of communities across the country – a goal I look forward to working with you to advance in the days ahead.

Alongside upholding the rule of law and protecting civil rights, keeping our country safe is the Justice Department’s third co-equal priority. My approach to fulfilling this responsibility was profoundly shaped by my experience more than 26 years ago, working to bring the perpetrators of the Oklahoma City Bombing to justice.

I arrived in Oklahoma two days after the bombing. It was night, but powerful lights lit up the bombsite as if it were the middle of the day. First responders who had rushed to Oklahoma from across the country were sifting through the rubble, searching for survivors and for the dead. Everyone was crying. We did not know exactly how many people had died, but we knew that the children’s center – which had been at the front of the building – was gone.

We made a vow. We promised that we would find the perpetrators, that we would bring them to justice and that we would do so in a way that honored the Constitution. We set up a command post in a Southwestern Bell dispatch building, the windows of which had been blown out by the blast. We worked 24/7 to follow the evidence and put the case together. State and local law enforcement officers from all over Oklahoma were there, as were federal agents from all over the country. All working together.

Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson made clear that there would be none of the typical inter-agency rivalries that weaken investigations. “Let’s just find the people who did this,” Governor Keating said. That charge guided our efforts at every step of the investigation. That cooperation is what made the investigation successful. And that commitment to working collaboratively with state and local partners is what guides my approach to law enforcement to this day.

In the 26 years since Oklahoma City, the threats our country faces continue to evolve. Today, I want to highlight five key shared challenges in which our continued cooperation is essential to keeping our country safe.

The first is countering foreign and domestic terrorism. To counter these persistent threats, the Justice Department is strengthening our 200 joint terrorism task forces, the essential hubs for counter-terrorism cooperation across all levels of government nationwide. We cannot keep our country safe without your help.

The second is addressing the rise of increasingly complex and sophisticated cyber threats. The department has launched a Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, which has bolstered our cooperative efforts to hold the perpetrators of ransomware attacks responsible.

The third challenge we face together is protecting our communities from violent crime. In May, the department launched a comprehensive violent crime strategy, the key to which, again, is a close partnership with state and local law enforcement. That is why we are strengthening Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cornerstone initiative that brings together law enforcement and community stakeholders to develop solutions to pressing violent crime problems.

And that is why the department is seeking – as part of the President’s FY22 budget – over $1 billion in grant money to support state and local police departments and help them build trust with the communities they serve.

Indeed, over the years, the Justice Department’s grant programs have supported NAAG’s efforts to provide non-partisan and innovative training and resources to state attorneys general. The department’s support has ranged from funding the publication of practice manuals for investigating and prosecuting money laundering offenses, to a recent grant that will support NAGTRI’s role in establishing and operating a National Center on Forensics – dedicated to providing forensic science and legal training to state and local prosecutors.

Before I leave this topic, I want to especially thank NAAG for its leadership in advocating for the VOCA Fix Act, which the President signed into law this summer. That act enabled the Justice Department to bolster the Crime Victims Fund with more than $250 million in just the first month of its implementation — the largest monthly deposit to the fund in more than four years.

Our fourth shared challenge is keeping our country safe from the criminal networks that are fueling the overdose epidemic. In August, the department launched a nationwide law enforcement effort to address the alarming increase in the availability and lethality of fentanyl-laced pills. By the end of September, our cooperative efforts led to the seizure of 1.8 million such pills – a supply large enough to kill more 700,000 Americans.

Finally, to keep our country safe, we must work together to protect our democratic institutions from violent attack.

Yesterday marks 11 months since the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and on the brave law enforcement officers who sought to protect it. Within days of that attack, the National Association of Attorneys General, on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of 50 attorneys general, sent a letter to the Justice Department, which said: “As Americans, and those charged with enforcing the law, we must come together to condemn lawless violence, making clear that such actions will not be allowed to go unchecked.”

The Justice Department has accepted NAAG’s charge. Working together with state and local law enforcement partners nationwide, we have made hundreds of arrests of those who assaulted law enforcement and sought to interfere with a fundamental element of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.

Keeping the American people safe is one of the Justice Department’s most important responsibilities, and our ability to fulfill that obligation depends on our cooperative efforts with all of you. We are grateful for your partnership.

In closing, I want to thank you for inviting me to join you today. For more than 100 years, NAAG has been a vital forum for state and federal cooperation. I look forward to our continued work together on behalf of the public we all serve.

*The Justice Department’s review of its access-to-justice work commenced in May 2021 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-launches-review-reinvigorate-justice-department-s-commitment-access-justice

Speaker:

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland

Topic(s):

Antitrust

Component(s):

Office of the Attorney General

Updated December 7, 2021