Bill Barr has complete meltdown
Palmer Report has documented how Attorney General William Barr, who is supposed to serve the nation as the country’s highest ranking law enforcement officer, has acted more partisan than perhaps anyone has in that position. On Friday evening, Barr spoke for an hour at the Federalist Society event, and painted a picture of Donald Trump as the victim of a “scorched earth war” against Trump.
Barr opened by inexplicably asserting that the executive branch has been weakened in recent times, stating at the beginning of his speech: “Unfortunately, over the past several decades, we have seen steady encroachment on Presidential authority by the other branches of government. This process I think has substantially weakened the functioning of the Executive Branch, to the detriment of the Nation.”
The empirical evidence is exactly the opposite, with the executive branch becoming more powerful. Barr’s speech is filled with very partisan, very ideological arguments and assertions about the Supreme Court, apparently failing to realize that the Court he blasts over the last few decades has been the Rehnquist and now Roberts Court, bastions of conservative ideology and more than fair to the Republicans. But what is most shocking about Barr is the attack he has for the Democrats in our nation, who are trying to ensure Trump follows the law. Barr noted:
The fact of the matter is that, in waging a scorched earth, no-holds-barred war of “Resistance” against this Administration, it is the Left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law. This highlights a basic disadvantage that conservatives have always had in contesting the political issues of the day….
In any age, the so-called progressives treat politics as their religion. Their holy mission is to use the coercive power of the State to remake man and society in their own image, according to an abstract ideal of perfection. Whatever means they use are therefore justified because, by definition, they are a virtuous people pursing a deific end….They never ask whether the actions they take could be justified as a general rule of conduct, equally applicable to all sides.
Barr is a partisan hack and codependent of the president, whose every action is harmful to the rule of law.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.