U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to Temporarily Hand Over Power While Undergoing Back Surgery
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is set to undergo back surgery this coming weekend, prompting a temporary transfer of his official responsibilities to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the Justice Department confirmed on Monday.
Garland, 71, is scheduled for a “minimally invasive” medical procedure called interlaminar decompression, which is intended to alleviate stenosis in his spine. The surgery aims to alleviate persistent lower back pain from which the Attorney General has been suffering.
According to the National Health Service (NHS), interlaminar decompression is a surgical procedure used to treat spinal conditions, most commonly spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spaces in the spine that can cause pressure on the spinal cord and nerves.
