{"id":1497925,"date":"2022-05-31T10:29:43","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1497925"},"modified":"2022-05-31T10:29:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:29:52","slug":"ag-garland-says-u-s-democracy-facing-threats-from-jan-6-election-reforms-in-harvard-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ag-garland-says-u-s-democracy-facing-threats-from-jan-6-election-reforms-in-harvard-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"AG Garland Says U.S. Democracy Facing \u2018Threats\u2019 From Jan. 6, Election Reforms In Harvard Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fag-garland-says-u-s-democracy-facing-threats-from-jan-6-election-reforms-in-harvard-speech%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1497925&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Attorney General Merrick Garland pressed a crowd of Harvard graduates on the need to \u201cdefend democracy\u201d in the United States on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Garland delivered the keynote address in a joint commencement ceremony for Harvard\u2019s classes of 2020 and 2021. The university had postponed in-person observances for both classes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In his speech, Garland claimed that U.S. democracy is \u201cunder threat\u201d and cited the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and referenced recent election reforms passed largely in GOP-controlled states.<\/p>\n<p>Garland began his remarks by pushing the graduate classes to \u201cdevote some part of your life to public service.\u201d The U.S. attorney general said the need for public servants is great because of the \u201cthreats\u201d to U.S. democracy internationally and domestically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussia\u2019s unprovoked and unjust invasion of Ukraine this February has been accompanied by heart-breaking atrocities: murders of civilians, the shelling of hospitals, the bombing of a theater in Mariupol where hundreds had sought shelter, the demolished residential apartment buildings of Bucha and other cities,\u201d Garland said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt home, we are also facing threats to democracy \u2013 different in kind, but threats, nonetheless,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>He said January 6 rioters and voting laws passed to restrict the right to vote were two of the main threats to democracy domestically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see [threats to democracy] in efforts to undermine the right to vote. We see them in the violence and threats of violence that are directed at people because of who they are or how they serve the public,\u201d Garland said. \u201cWe saw them when a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration, and specifically the Department of Justice headed by Garland, has prioritized combating white supremacy above any other domestic terror threat. In a May 2021 Senate hearing, Garland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/12\/us\/politics\/domestic-terror-white-supremacists.html\">told<\/a> lawmakers that racial extremists, \u201cspecifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race,\u201d are the greatest domestic threat that the U.S. faces.<\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden and Democrats have also criticized GOP-led voting reforms following the 2020 election. Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/joe-biden-backtracks-after-mlb-boycott-costs-georgians-100-million-says-masters-tourney-can-stay\">pushed<\/a> Major League Baseball to boycott the state of Georgia after its GOP-led legislature passed a slew of election reforms last year. MLB moved its 2021 all-star game and its draft out of the state, costing the local economy tens of millions of dollars in business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have also seen the violence and threats of violence directed against Americans who serve and interact with the public at every level \u2014 many of whom make our democracy work every day,\u201d he continued. \u201cThese are our fellow citizens \u2014 who administer our elections, ensure our safe travel, treat the sick, teach the children, report the news, represent their constituents, ensure the rule of law, and keep our communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese threats and acts of violence are permeating so many parts of our national life that they are becoming normalized and routine,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is deeply dangerous for our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attorney General Merrick Garland pressed a crowd of Harvard graduates on the need to \u201cdefend democracy\u201d in the United States on Sunday. Garland delivered the keynote address in a joint commencement ceremony for Harvard\u2019s classes of 2020 and 2021. The university had postponed in-person observances for both classes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In his &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":1497930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1497925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1497925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1497930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1497925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1497925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1497925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}