No Relief: William Barr Is as Bad as Jeff Sessions — if Not Worse | American Civil Liberties Union:
by David Cole (ACLU and Georgetown Law School)
Donald Trump’s nomination of William Barr to succeed Jeff Sessions as attorney general ought to raise alarm bells across the country. Barr is as bad as Sessions was on the full range of civil rights issues that fall with the Justice Department’s purview. And he’s a longstanding advocate of expansive executive power.
It’s almost certainly the latter view that attracted President Trump, whose own power is likely to be called into question should the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election disclose wrongdoing at the top. But the Senate, who must confirm Barr, and the U.S. citizenry, who will have to live under him as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, should be aware of the full range of threats he poses to constitutional law, civil rights, and civil liberties.
It’s worth reflecting on the Justice Department Barr would inherit.
Under Sessions’ leadership, it has become a force for injustice in virtually every important area of civil rights. Sessions was an aggressive defender of Trump’s cruel and inhuman family separation policy, the Muslim ban, and obstacles to asylum. He rolled back critical civil rights protections for LGBT persons. He opposed legislative efforts to reform the criminal justice system and directed federal prosecutors to file the harshest charges possible against criminal defendants, regardless of mitigating circumstances. He reversed the department’s position in voting rights cases, going from attacking to supporting voter suppression initiatives. And he sought to punish state and local governments that exercised their constitutional right to choose to leave federal immigration law enforcement to federal officials. Few attorney generals have done more to undermine the causes that the Justice Department is supposed to defend.
But Barr’s record, both in the Justice Department under George H.W. Bush and as a lawyer and lobbyist ever since, strongly suggests that we will see more of the same. If anything, Barr may be more effective at dismantling the department’s justice-serving mission than Sessions, because, unlike Sessions, he actually knows how the department works, having been deputy attorney general and attorney general from 1990-93.
In a nutshell, Barr has, like Sessions, supported aggressive anti-immigrant policies, opposed criminal justice reform, lauded intrusive surveillance of Americans, said Roe v. Wade should be overturned, and supported denying civil rights protections to transgender individuals. During his time in public life, he has defended the Muslim ban, Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, and attacks on immigrant rights and free speech.
Here’s a quick rundown on all the ways William Barr should concern civil libertarians and the civil rights community.
