Merrick Garland Is Too Weak to Be Attorney General
Over and over again, the Biden appointee has proven to be painfully naïve in the face of Republican bad faith.
newrepublic.com
Garland should have seen this coming. He didn’t. Three years into Garland’s term as attorney general, it’s clear that he has failed. Far from rebuilding the Justice Department’s reputation, his fear of being attacked as a partisan has prevented him from carrying out some of his basic duties. His rigid adherence to “norms” has instead aided Republican bad faith attacks. For all of the efforts undertaken to cleanse the agency of the politics of his predecessor, Garland has allowed a more insidious politics to seep into the Department of Justice’s affairs—and it only appears that he has given it his blessing.
The appropriate term is "beached whale".