The Attorney General Should Not be Appointed by the President

The Attorney General Should Not

be Appointed by the President

By Joel D. Joseph

(Mr. Joseph is an attorney and author of 15 books on the law)

William Barr is an excellent example of why the President should not appoint attorneys general. The attorney general is supposed to be dedicated to the rule of law and represent the United States of America, not the President. However, Mr. Barr has clearly demonstrated that he is a puppet for President Trump, parroting his "no collusion, no obstruction" mantra and is not representing the United States.

Barr is Obstructing Justice

William Barr has intentionally held up distribution of the Mueller Report for nearly a month, and has censored the report for purely political purposes. He is resisting Congressional subpoenas to produce the report, and is mischaracterizing and whitewashing the report. All of these actions are obstructing justice and Congress from uncovering the President's criminal and impeachable activities.

In another incident of raw political power, William Barr told the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. Texas v. United States. In litigation, lawyers have a duty to advocate for their client. Traditionally, the Justice Department, the attorneys for the United States, vigorously defends the constitutionality of federal laws, but Attorney General Barr has announced that the Department will argue that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. This refusal to support a law passed by the United States Congress is a breach of his legal duties. Barr is doing this to appease the President of the United States while ignoring his client, the United States of America.

Attorneys General Have Been Political for Far Too Long

Bobby Kennedy and John Mitchell were both presidential campaign managers before they were appointed attorney general. John Mitchell ran Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign and then was appointed attorney general. On February 21, 1975 Mitchell was found guilty of conspiracy , obstruction of justice , and perjury and sentenced to two and a half to eight years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up. Mitchell was also disbarred from the practice of law in New York. His sentence was later reduced to one to four years by United States district court Judge John Sirica. Mitchell served only 19 months of his sentence at Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery (in Maxwell Air Force Base) in Montgomery, Alabama, a minimum-security prison, before being released on parole for medical reasons.

If there was an independent counsel Attorney General Barr would be prosecuted, like John Mitchell was, for obstruction of justice and perjury. But the special counsel is gone and there is no one left who would dare prosecute the attorney general.

Bobby Kennedy, John Mitchell and William Barr were political cronies and friends of the president. They all acted on behalf of the President of the United State and not on behalf of the American people. This must change.

Let the People Decide

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