William Barr

[[File:William Barr.jpg|165px|thumb|right|William Barr]]
{{uspolitics}}
{{cquote|The American people deserve an attorney general who serves their interests, leads the Justice Department with integrity and can be entrusted to pursue the facts and the law, even — and especially — when they are politically inconvenient and inconsistent with the personal interests of the president who appointed him. William Barr has proved he is incapable of serving as such an attorney general. He is unfit to lead the Justice Department.|||Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General under [[Barack Obama]] from 2009 to 2015.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eric-holder-william-barr-is-unfit-to-be-attorney-general/2019/12/11/99882092-1c55-11ea-87f7-f2e91143c60d_story.html William Barr is unfit to be attorney general] by Eric H. Holder Jr. (December 11, 2019 at 9:13 p.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>}}
'''William "Bill" Barr''' {{lived|May 23, 1950}} is a former Attorney General, serving under both [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[Donald Trump]], becoming Trump's second Attorney General after [[Jeff Sessions]] resigned in November 2018.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-P-Barr William Barr]</ref> This has caused him to be the first Attorney General to serve two non-consecutive terms since John J. Crittenden was confirmed for one back in 1850.<ref>[https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/428878-william-barr-is-right-man-for-the-times/ William Barr is right man for the times]</ref>

==Authoritarianism==
{{main|Authoritarianism}}
Barr is also infamous for his advocating the "unitary executive theory," which calls for a massive expansion of executive power.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/01/william-barr-donald-trump-mueller-report-1295273 The real reason Bill Barr is defending Trump]</ref> Barr could be called pro-authoritarian on that basis alone, but he additionally asked Congress in March 2020 to grant the Justice Department to ask judges to detain people indefinitely without trial. In June, Barr fired Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Berman had been prosecuting Trump cronies, including his personal lawyers Michael Cohen and [[Rudolph Giuliani]]. It was obvious that Barr was attempting to neutralize the prosecution of any crimes within the Trump Organization.<ref>''Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present'' by Ruth Ben-Ghiat (2021) W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393868419.</ref>{{rp|87}}

==Working for Bush==
During his time working for the first George Bush, Barr was known as somebody who has had a contrararian view regarding laws. On one hand, he praised and authorized the public release of ''The Case For More Incarcerations'' where he argued for harsher punishments to be leveled against those who commit unlawful acts.<ref>[https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/139583NCJRS.pdf ''The Case For More Incarcerations''] by Steven R. Schlesinger & Edward Himmelfarb (October 28, 1992) ''U.S. Department of Justice''. NCJ-J39583.</ref>{{efn|Michael Tonry spent five pages of his book ''Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America'' basically proving the report was utterly nonsensical.<ref name=Tonry>''Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America'' by Michael Tonry (1996) Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195104692.</ref>{{rp|20-24}} It notes, among other things, that Barr claimed that all increases in crimes were due to lack of incarceration. however, there is no reason to believe that. For example: 

{{quotebox|Because public attitudes have rightly become less tolerant of assaults and sex offenses, in recent decades most analysts believe that significant parts of the apparent increases for [[rape]] and aggravated assault result from greater likelihood that incidents will be reported to the [[police]] and that the police will record it as a crime.<ref name=Tonry/>{{rp|20}}}}}} "His contention," wrote David Johnson of ''[[The New York Times]]'', "that violent crime can be reduced only by expanding Federal and state [[prison]]s to jail habitual violent offenders" was a "central theme" of his time at the job.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/03/us/new-attorney-general-shifts-department-s-focus.html New Attorney General Shifts Department's Focus] by David Johnston (March 3, 1992) ''The New York Times''.</ref>{{efn|For the record, actual research on crime finds this claim to be questionable at best. One source notes that "criminals seldom know the legal sanctions for specific crimes" and finds that increasing the chance of criminals being caught does far more to deter criminals than increasing their sentence.<ref>[https://thenevadaindependent.com/fact-briefs/does-increasing-the-penalties-for-a-crime-reduce-the-incidence-of-that-crime Is increasing criminal penalties effective at reducing crime?] by Todd Butterworth (2023) ''The Nevada Independent''.</ref>}} On the other hand, Barr played an important part in defending his boss against both [[Iran-Contra]]{{efn|He has since admitted he was the one who advised Bush to pardon six people, including [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, after documents had been found which showed "that Mr. Bush, as vice president, was more implicated in the arms shipments than he had claimed."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/09/us/politics/who-is-william-barr.html People Are Trying to Figure Out William Barr. He’s Busy Wielding Power.] by Sharon LaFraniere et al. (June 9, 2019) ''The New York Times''.</ref> Lawrence Walsh, the lead investigator for the Iran-Contra scandal, argued that Bush used these pardons as a way to stop top Reagan cabinet members from testifying.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/09/us/walsh-implies-bush-used-pardons-to-avoid-testifying.html Walsh Implies Bush Used Pardons to Avoid Testifying] by David Johnston (Feb. 9, 1993) ''The New York Times''.</ref>}} and Iraqgate, causing ''New York Times'' columnist William Safire to nickname him the "[[coverup]] general"<ref>[https://thetriallawyermagazine.com/2021/07/bill-barr-is-the-master-of-covering-up-political-scandals/ Bill Barr Is The Master Of Covering Up Political Scandals] by Thom Hartmann, ''The Trial Lawyer''.</ref> and for several top [[Democrats]] to call for his resignation.<ref>[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/10/16/Barr-names-special-counsel-in-BNL-case-his-resignation-still-demanded/8496719208000 Barr names special counsel in BNL case, his resignation still demanded] (Oct. 16, 1992) ''UPI''.</ref> He similarly worked with the [[CIA]] to prevent an investigation into the Bank of Credit and Commerce International despite the series of highly illegal things that the bank had been engaging in.<ref>[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,973440,00.html Iran-Contra: The Cover-Up Begins to Crack] by Richard Lacayo (July 22, 1991) ''Time Magazine''.</ref> For some [[hypocrisy]] points, he went on to go after [[Bill Clinton]] for merely criticizing certain aspects of the {{wpl|Starr Report}} regarding Clinton's [[impeachment]] in the 1990s.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-william-barr-now-serving-as-a-powerful-ally-for-trump-has-championed-presidential-powers/2019/05/14/418fe6d4-727f-11e9-9eb4-0828f5389013_story.html How William Barr, now serving as a powerful ally for Trump, has championed presidential powers] by Tom Hamburger (May 16, 2019 at 12:49 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

Before he got the top job, he also had a habit of defending the right of the [[United States]] to [[Gunboat diplomacy|do whatever it wants]]. He famously wrote a legal memo defending the United States invasion of [[Panama]] and the arrest of [[Manuel Noriega]] as well as a legal opinion stating the United States government could arrest people from other nations without the consent of the governments involved.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/11/12/for-nominee-barr-an-unusual-path-to-attorney-generals-office/deed0c0f-1078-41d8-94e5-35f9619e0528/ For Nominee Barr, An Unusual Path To Attorney General's Office] by Sharon LaFraniere (November 11, 1991 at 7:00 p.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> (When Barr was asked to give this opinion to [[Congress]], he responded to this by giving them a summary which was found to have omitted key parts of the memo.<ref>[https://www.justsecurity.org/63635/barrs-playbook-he-misled-congress-when-omitting-parts-of-justice-dept-memo-in-1989/ Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989] by Ryan Goodman (April 15, 2019) ''Just Security''.</ref>)

Barr infamously expanded the surveillance state during his time in Washington, engaging in a program to gather records on the international phone calls of innocent Americans in 1992, which he did without going through proper legal review.<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/28/review-finds-phone-data-dragnet-dea-doj-began-without-legal-review/3299438002/ Justice under AG Barr began vast surveillance program without legal review – in 1992, inspector general finds] by Brad Heath (March 28, 2019) ''USA Today''.</ref>

==Working for Trump==
{{main|Donald Trump}}
Barr's involvement with the Trump Administration goes back to its start. Throughout the early years of the Trump Presidency, Barr defended Trump from legal challenges related to investigations that the Administration was undergoing.<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/barr-under-fire-says-hes-fighting-for-the-presidency-not-trump-11558389922 Barr Says He Is Fighting for the Presidency, Not Trump] by Sadie Gurman (May 20, 2019 7:00 pm ET) ''The Wall Street Journal''.</ref> At one point, he went so far as to send a twenty-page memo to senior Justice Department officials as well as members of Trump's legal team totally unsolicited.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/politics/barr-mueller-letter/index.html Barr sent or discussed controversial memo with Trump lawyers] Ariane de Vogue (5:45 AM EST, Tue January 15, 2019) ''CNN''.</ref> (Many jokingly called it a job application for Trump due to the nature of the memo.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/04/barr-legacy-mueller-report-1256871 Barr’s legacy on the line as Mueller team fumes] by Darren Samuelsohn (04/04/2019 05:56 PM EDT) ''Politico''.</ref> [[John Oliver]] called it "a lawyer version of sliding into Trump's DMs."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE63HmOYGps William Barr: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)] (Nov 1, 2020) ''YouTube''.</ref>)

When he was not defending Trump, he was attempting to get the [[Affordable Care Act]] declared unconstitutional,<ref>[https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2019/03/25/in-reversal-doj-now-says-whole-aca-unconstitutional/ In Reversal, DOJ Now Says Whole ACA Unconstitutional] by Nate Robson (March 25, 2019 at 10:14 PM) ''The National Law Journal''.</ref> refusing to bring charges against the [[Police brutality|NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner]],<ref>[https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/16/politics/eric-garner-william-barr-nypd-officer-daniel-pantaleo/index.html Barr sides against civil rights officials in declining to bring charges against NYPD officer in Garner case] by David Shortell (12:12 PM EDT, Tue July 16, 2019) ''CNN''.</ref> and bringing back federal [[Capital punishment|executions]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/death-penalty-capital-punishment-us-justice-department-resumes-executions US justice department resumes use of death penalty and schedules five executions] by David Smith (25 Jul 2019 17.31 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> The last one was especially notable as not only had no federal executions not taken place in nearly two decades before Barr brought them back,<ref>[https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/25/william-barr-orders-first-federal-executions-in-nearly-two-decades.html Attorney General William Barr orders first federal executions in nearly two decades] by Tucker Higgins (Jul 25 20192:16 PM) ''CNBC''.</ref> but he ended up doing the most in one year since 1896.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20201220154559/https://www.cbs58.com/news/the-us-government-has-executed-10-people-this-year-the-most-since-1896 The US government has executed 10 people this year&nbsp;— the most since 1896] (Dec 19, 2020 1:24 PM CST) ''WDJT'' (archived from December 20, 2020).</ref>

In response to the protests of the police murder of [[George Floyd]], Barr had a habit of attempting to paint those protesting as the bad guys and find excuses to punish them. The year before this occurred, he had already threatened communities that fail to show "the respect and support that law enforcement deserves" by saying "they might find themselves without the police protection they need."<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/william-barr-police-barr-says-communities-will-not-have-police-protections-without-respect-for-officers/ William Barr says communities will not have "police protections" without respect for officers] by Jeff Pegues (December 4, 2019 / 9:29 PM EST) ''CBS''.</ref> After the protests started, Trump ordered Barr to find "[[anarchist]] jurisdictions" so he could cut their funding.<ref>[https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/03/trump-seeks-to-cut-federal-funding-to-anarchist-cities.html Trump seeks to cut federal funding to what he calls ‘anarchist jurisdictions’] by Christina Wilkie (Sep 3 202012:58 PM EDT) ''CNBC''.</ref> Barr labeled [[New York City]], Portland ([[Oregon]]), and Seattle ([[Washington]]) as "anarchist jurisdictions in response to this order.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/21/doj-new-york-portland-seattle-trump-bill-barr DoJ labels New York, Portland and Seattle 'anarchist jurisdictions'] by Lauren Aratani (21 Sep 2020 11.50 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> He also discussed bringing charges of sedition against those who engaged in looting and rioting.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/16/bill-barr-sedition-charges-protests Bill Barr reportedly suggested bringing sedition charges against protesters] by Lauren Aratani (16 Sep 2020 22.16 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

In response to [[COVID-19]] lockdowns, Barr said "other than [[slavery]], which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on [[civil liberties]] in American history."<ref>[https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/17/william-barr-coronavirus-lockdowns-slavery-416776 Barr creates firestorm with comments that appear to boost Trump’s reelection campaign] by Quint Forgey & Josh Gerstein (09/17/2020 06:13 PM EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

==Other opinions of note==
Barr is famous for his hatred of parole, even getting named the "leader of the parole-abolition campaign" in [[Virginia]] at one point.<ref>''Virginia in the Vanguard: Political Leadership in the 400-Year-Old Cradle of American Democracy, 1981-2006'' by Frank B. Atkinson (2006) Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 0742552101.</ref>{{rp|231}} George Allen, the then Governor of the state, even appointed Barr to a committee with the purpose of creating tougher-on-crime policies, with parole abolition being one of them.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/08/17/allen-offers-plan-to-abolish-parole/aa89f603-818d-42aa-9b7d-40a09054b70e/ Allen Offers Plan To Abolish Parole] by Peter Baker (August 16, 1994 at 8:00 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT: Barr, William}}
[[Category:Anti-abortion activists]]
[[Category:Atheophobia]]
[[Category:Authoritarianism]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
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[[Category:Denialists]]
[[Category:Former U.S. Cabinet Members]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:New York]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Trump administration]]

Categories: Anti-abortion activists, Atheophobia, Authoritarianism, Catholics, Chickenhawks, Denialists, Former U.S. Cabinet Members, Lawyers, Living people, New York, Right-wing activists, Trump administration