Who Might Joe Biden Select To Lead The Justice Department?

Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates arrives for a ceremony for FBI Director Chris Wray at the FBI Building, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in Washington.

Andrew Harnik / AP

Choosing an attorney general is a critical task for a new president in normal times.

But after nearly four years of attack from President Trump, who pushed the Justice Department to punish his enemies and protect his friends, these are not normal times, as former Solicitor General Don Verrilli pointed out recently to an online audience at the Brennan Center for Justice.

“I think we have to not only rebuild the public’s confidence in the Department of Justice as an institution, we have to rebuild the sense of confidence and integrity on the inside, because it’s been so terribly, terribly damaged over the last three and a half years,” Verrilli said. “It’s a colossal tragedy.”