The 2024 election year will be a year of trials

THE 2024 ELECTION YEAR WILL BE A YEAR OF TRIALS. Every now and then, the attorney general, whoever he or she is, whichever administration he or she serves, writes a memo called "Election Year Sensitivities." The purpose is to remind the Justice Department's 115,000 employees that they should not allow politics to influence their work.

"Department of Justice employees are entrusted with the authority to enforce the laws of the United States and with the responsibility to do so in a neutral and impartial manner," Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in his version of the memo, dated May 25, 2022. "This is particularly important in an election year."

"Simply put, partisan politics must play no role in the decisions of federal investigators or prosecutors regarding any investigations or criminal charges," Garland continued. "Law enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of public statements (attributed or not), investigative steps, criminal charges, or any other action in any matter or case for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party."