Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks at the Stephen J. Pollak Memorial Event

Remarks as Delivered

Good morning.

Thanks, Kristen. And thanks to all of you.

I am honored to be here today to remember my friend, Steve Pollak. And all of us at the Justice Department are grateful to Steve’s family for being here to honor and remember a man who inspired generations of lawyers inside and outside of this building.

A year and a half ago, in this Great Hall, we had the honor of hearing from Steve at our celebration marking the 65th anniversary of the Civil Rights Division.

During his remarks, Steve could have talked about how, on his first day in the Civil Rights Division, he was sent to Alabama, where he helped to protect those marching from Selma to Montgomery.

He could have talked about how, back in D.C., he helped draft the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – using scissors, Scotch tape, and a yellow legal pad.

As Steve recounted in his oral history, as the bill was being negotiated, he played the official role of scribe. But Steve did not merely cut and paste. As new versions of the bill were drafted, he kept pieces of the old version right under his chair in a pile. At the end of a negotiation session, he would pick up the pile from under his chair and ask the group if the provisions had really been intentionally omitted, or whether maybe they should be included. And very often, he recounted, the provisions that he had saved under his chair became part of the bill.

During his remarks at the 65th Anniversary, Steve could have also talked about how, as head of the Civil Rights Division, he led the government’s response in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – here in Washington, in Memphis, and in other parts of the country.

Or, Steve could have talked about his many contributions to the legal community, including as President of the D.C. Bar, as a Commissioner of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission, and as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit.

There are so many things Steve could have talked about. And we all would have been excited to listen.

But Steve did not talk about any of them.

Instead, after Assistant Attorney General Clarke introduced Steve, and this Hall erupted in applause, he came to the podium, and said:

“I didn’t do it alone.”

He praised the people he had worked alongside in the Civil Rights Division, including Burke Marshall and John Doar.

And then he praised the dedicated employees of the Civil Rights Division, past and present.

That was the kind of leader – and the kind of person – Steve was. He was a dedicated, passionate public servant, insistent on always sharing credit with his colleagues.

He was also a wonderful friend. He was warm and kind, generous with his time, and always goes – always there for those he cared about.

I was lucky enough to know Steve, both as a colleague and as a friend. We first met in the late 1980s, when Steve and I worked together on an investigation helmed by Jim McKay.

Within a decade, our families became intertwined, as our children and Steve and Ruth’s grandchildren began going to school together. And then we became further entwined, with our family and the extended Pollak clan skiing together almost every year on the same mountain in Utah.

And then, after I became a judge and then chief judge on the D.C. Circuit, Steve and I became entwined even more. Steve was a central figure in the life of our court. He chaired the Panel of Mediators of the D.C. Circuit, resolving scores of cases – to the great satisfaction of the litigants, and to the relief of the judges whose dockets he greatly lightened.

At the same time, Steve served as Chair and President of the Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit. For a time, we served together on the Board of Directors. Among the many things he did in that role, was to lead the Society’s Oral History Program. It is from that program that I cribbed the story from Steve’s own oral history that I shared earlier.

When Steve was asked about his early career goals during his oral history interview, he said: “From an early time I wanted to be in government. I thought that the government was a force for good, and that I wanted to be part of it.”

Steve’s extraordinary service to this Department, and to the cause of civil rights, helped ensure that the government in which he served was in fact a force for good. We all owe Steve Pollak an enormous debt of gratitude.

To Ruth, and the kids, and the grandkids, and the great-grandkids: we are so grateful for this opportunity to remember Steve with you.

I promise that all of us at the Justice Department will strive every day to honor Steve through our work to protect the civil rights of everyone in this country.

Thank you.