The Failing Rule of Law

The threat to democracy and the rule of law that the president and his administration poses is clear to many people, but not to the president’s administration or most rank and file supporters. The exceptions among those people are ones who want to see democracy and the rule of law dismantled. The president himself clearly wants to see that outcome.

The latest sign of the erosion of the rule of law came yesterday from US Attorney General William Barr. The Washington Post reports that Barr said this about the president Tweets and statements: “To have public statements and Tweets made about the department, about the people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that we’re doing our work with integrity.  .... I cannot do my job here at the department with constant background commentary that undercuts me. .... I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.”

Is that rational or believable?

In essence, Barr intended to give an appearance of standing up for the rule of law and the independence and integrity of the Department of Justice. Did he really do that? The media called Barr’s comments things like a public rebuke of the president. But was it really that? What exactly did Barr try to do yesterday?

It helps to recall some points about how both the president and Barr have conducted themselves from the beginning.

1. The president made it clear that in view of his power, the job of the US Attorney General was to protect the president from the rule of law: “I don't want to get into loyalty, but I will tell you that, I will say this: Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him. When you look at the things that they did, and Holder protected the president. And I have great respect for that, I'll be honest.” The president’s attitude toward the rule of law is clear, i.e., the president is above the law.

2. Barr wrote an unsolicited memo to the president months before he was nominated to be Attorney General: “The memo questions the scope of Mueller’s investigation, and it argues that Mueller should not be permitted to demand answers from the president about possible obstruction of justice based on attempts by Trump to pressure former FBI Director James Comey to drop his investigation of Trump’s ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.” Barr’s memo was interpreted by many as an assertion that he would protect the president from the rule of law.

3. Barr has both lied and acted to protect the president by constantly withholding information that is potentially damaging to the president. For example, the American people have never see the entire Mueller report. Reuters reported this last October: “WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday issued a stay that blocks the release to a congressional committee of an unredacted copy of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report detailing Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.” Barr's fight to keep the full Mueller report hidden form the public continues.  Also, before the Mueller report came out, Barr provided the public with a summary that lied about what Mueller found. Barr has made other false public assertions in defense of the president. Barr has also interfered with some DoJ investigations of both the president and his allies, even ending some of them.

In view of that, several things stand out about what Barr said and did not say yesterday. Most importantly, he did not say that the president did not influence his decision to try to protect Roger Stone. He also did not say why he intervened to protect Roger Stone to reduce the recommended jail term for that felon ally of the president. He did not even say that the president made the DoJ’s job impossible -- he said it made his job impossible. He also did not say why the president’s Tweets made his job impossible, despite saying he is not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody. Barr’s act to protect Stone looks exactly like a subordinate taking orders from his boss because that is exactly what it was. All Barr had to do was ignore the president’s Tweet in defense of a convicted felon-ally, or provide some rationale for why the felon Stone should be given leniency. There is nothing impossible about that.

Finally, Barr said that he could not assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that the Department of Justice is doing its work with integrity. That's entirely on him. He has two basic options, resign in protest or explain himself to the public. He isn't doing either. Instead, he deploys more lies to distract and deceive the public. He is acting exactly as both he and the president see the role of the Attorney General, i.e., protector of the president from the rule of law. This is how the rule of law falls to liars, authoritarians and crooks.