Attorney General Garland Memorandum on Justice Department Communications with the White House

The U.S. Department of Justice today formally updated its guidelines governing communications between the Justice Department and the White House. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the guidelines, effective immediately, in a memorandum to all Department personnel. 

“The success of the Department of Justice depends upon the trust of the American people,” wrote Attorney General Garland. “That trust must be earned every day. And we can do so only through our adherence to the longstanding Departmental norms of independence from inappropriate influences, the principled exercise of discretion, and the treatment of like cases alike.”

The policy expands upon procedural safeguards designed to protect the Department’s criminal and civil law enforcement decisions, and legal judgments, from the appearance or reality of partisan or other inappropriate influences.