AG Garland briefed on Jan. 6 Capitol riot after first address to DOJ employees Merrick Garland confirmed as attorney general Replay Video UP NEXT Newly confirmed Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered his first virtual address Thursday to the Justice Department's more than 115,000 employees, using his remarks to express solidarity with career officials and what he described as their united pursuit of equal justice for all Americans. "The only way we can succeed and retain the trust of the American people, is to adhere to the norms that have become part of the DNA of every Justice Department employee," Garland said. "Those norms require that like cases be treated alike -- that there not be one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, one rule for friends and another for foes, one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless, one rule for the rich and another for the poor, or different rules depending upon one's race or ethnicity."