Sen. Dick Durbin, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Monday that he expected the panel to vote on Merrick Garland’s nomination to become attorney general on March 1 with a full Senate vote the same week after hearings Monday and Tuesday.

“Fingers crossed, everything goes smoothly,” Durbin said.

— Bart Jansen

Garland says deaths of Black Americans could spur investigations of police

Merrick Garland, the nominee to become attorney general, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was shocked to see videos of Black Americans last summer being killed, but that the revelations and protests created a moment to find remedies.

“I was shocked by what I saw,”