Biden’s AG nominee Merrick Garland praised rape jokes in the 1970s

During his time at Harvard, Garland wrote for the Harvard Crimson. He reviewed a student production of The Fantasticks, a musical about a 20-year-old man who is in love with a 16-year-old girl. Garland wrote praisingly about a "hilarious" rape number. The dance sequence accompanying the number in the show is called the "rape ballet."

Garland wrote that the show had "some hilarious group numbers like 'it Depends on what You Pay,' which provides a shopping list of rapes for sale (e.g. 'the military rape–it's done with drums and a great brass band.')"

In 2017, the show was changed by the show's creator, and the "rape ballet" was renamed "the abduction ballet." Creator Tom Jones made additional changes as well, to make the show more palatable to more sensitive, contemporary audiences.

Was he praising the performance? The satire? The rapes themselves? If Democrats in Congress stay true to their stripes, they would presume that Garland was pro-rape based on this review from his college years. But they have not determined that to be the case. In fact, they have barely noticed it at all.

According to Breitbart, "The article was submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 26, [2021], as part of a questionnaire Garland filled out for consideration by the committee next week. Question 12 asks the nominee to list published writings — books, articles, reports, letters to the editor, etc. — and public statements."

Breitbart additionally obtained information that the Senate GOP will push for a second hearing with Garland in order that he be asked about just what he was advocating for in that Harvard Crimson review from nearly half a century ago.

They report that there was already rancor within the ranks of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who feel that Garland is being rushed through and that there hasn't been the customary waiting period between when he submitted the requested materials and the beginning of his confirmation hearing.

Garland was nominated by then President Barack Obama to serve on the Supreme Court during the last year of his own presidential term in office. Senate Republicans, led by the then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, refused to hold hearings on that nomination, citing a number of reasons, but primarily due to wanting to maintain their own stranglehold on power.

They were successful in doing so, and Obama departed office without having named a replacement justice to the bench. When President Donald Trump took office, he put forth Brett Kavanaugh to serve the court. That hearing was tumultuous, with Democrats reaching deep into Kavanaugh's past, back to his high school days.

Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault and rape, and his full-throated defense of his innocence was only used to smear him further. The bad blood and unpleasantness that began with the Senate GOP's refusal to consider Garland for the Supreme Court has only continued and increased with the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh, and Trump appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

At issue as well is the perpetual problem of one side holding the opposing side to a certain set of rules, but then making allowances and exceptions to those rules for those who bat for their own team. It is this contradiction, or perhaps hypocrisy, which the Senate GOP would be calling out in holding Garland to account for praising rape jokes in the 1970s.

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