The attorney general is part of a group of conservative intellectuals who have been leading the charge to expand the powers of the executive branch over the past four decades.
Attorney General William P. Barr pauses during an April 1992 news conference at which he called the conviction of Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega a “historic accomplishment and a great victory for the rule of law and for the American people.” By Tom Hamburger Tom Hamburger Investigative reporter focused on the intersection of money and politics in Washington Email Bio Follow May 14 at 12:28 PM A few months after William P.
“I don’t know anyone that has a more robust view of inherent presidential authority than Bill Barr,” Dellinger added. “There is nobody who is to his right on this issue.” Now, back at the helm of the Justice Department under Trump, Barr is in a singular position to put his philosophy into action. In just a few months, he has made his imprint, defending the White House as it pushes a hard-line immigration policy, defies congressional subpoenas and boldly asserts the reach of executive privilege. Barr recently appointed a U.S.
But Barr popularized, codified and interpreted the concept, helping put the theory into practice, legal experts and colleagues said. 'Do what you have to do' Barr began his government service as a CIA analyst and legislative affairs officer during the 1970s, when the agency was being investigated by Congress for excesses exposed during the Nixon era. He then served in the Reagan White House, working with vice presidential adviser C. Boyden Gray on an initiative to rein in regulatory agencies.
President George H.W. Bush meets at the White House with advisers including Attorney General William P. Barr, third from left, on May 1, 1992. Colleagues say Barr has been influenced by the “unitary executive” theory, rooted in Article II of the Constitution, which holds that the president controls the entire executive branch.
“Only by consistently and forcefully resisting such congressional incursions can executive branch prerogatives be preserved,” he wrote in his unsolicited memo that July. That same summer, Barr wrote a secret opinion saying that the president had “inherent constitutional authority” to order the FBI to take people into custody in foreign countries in violation of international law. The opinion was a reversal for the office, which had concluded the opposite nine years earlier.
“That is the first instance that I know of in which any U.S. government official took the view that the president has the authority to put the U.S. in breach of the United Nations Charter, a treaty principally written and promoted by the U.S.,” Lederman said. Although this view has more adherents today, Lederman said the notion that “the president alone could put the U.S. in breach of the charter was a novel and radical proposition at the time.
“It is not only natural but expected that an attorney general — who after all is an officer of the executive branch, not of the Congress or the judiciary — would be a proponent of presidential power,” he added.President George H.W. Bush meets with Barr in the Oval Office on April 30, 1992. On Jan. 8, 1990, Barr, then the deputy attorney general, was called to the White House to discuss a possible invasion of Iraq.
Barr used the moment to school more senior government officials on the history of war powers, according to an account in Bob Woodward’s 1993 book, “The Commanders.” Barr also played a pivotal role in the Iran-contra investigation, recommending that Bush pardon former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and five other Reagan administration officials charged for their roles in the arms-for-hostages scheme.
In March 1998, Barr joined with three other former attorneys general in lambasting the Clinton White House for criticizing Starr, saying the president’s allies appear “to have the improper purpose of influencing and impeding an ongoing criminal investigation and intimidating possible jurors, witnesses and even investigators.”
For his part, Starr said in an interview that he and Barr shared concerns about the independent counsel law, which Congress declined to renew when it expired in 1999. During his short tenure back as attorney general, Barr has already supported some of Trump’s most controversial policy decisions. He issued an order directing immigration judges to deny some migrants a chance to post bond, supporting Trump’s promise to end the “catch and release” of migrants crossing the border. During congressional testimony last month, he defended administration’s efforts to strike down the Affordable Care Act.
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