During his confirmation hearing, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland gave us insight into his character by defending Kristen Clarke. Garland was asked about Clarke, Biden’s pick to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights by Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee. Ethical concerns have circulated recently as to whether or not Clarke should be confirmed after a letter she co-authored to the Harvard Crimson in 1994 resurfaced.

The 1994 letter was a response to the controversial book “The Bell Curve” which suggests intelligence is linked to genetics and environmental factors. Clarke denounced the book, writing, “Black infants sit, stand, crawl and walk sooner than whites” and “Melanin endows Blacks with greater mental, physical and spiritual abilities.”

Senator Lee asked Garland, “Would an individual’s past statements as an adult declaring that one racial group is superior to another, would statements like that be relevant to an evaluation of whether such a person should be put in charge of running the Department of Justice’s civil rights division?”

Garland’s response vehemently defending Clarke instigated a heated exchange. “I’ve read, in the last few days, these allegations about Kristen Clarke, who I’ve also gotten to know, who I also trust, who I believe is a person of integrity, whose views about the civil rights division I have discussed with her and they are in line with my own…I have every reason to want her. She is an experienced former line prosecutor of hate crimes and we need somebody like that” he replied.