Barr speaks at the Federalist Society's National Lawyers Convention

Fox News ^ | Nov. 15 , 2019 | William Barr

[LeoWindhorse]

U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr delivers the Barbara K Olson Lecture at the Federalist Society's 2019 National Lawyers Convention. This takes place amid the second day of the public impeachment proceedings.

[LeoWindhorse]

If you are in a pinch for time , please start at around 20:00

Otherwise, every minute of this is excellent and important. WOrth the hour+ time required.

[kiryandil]

Thanx.

[LeoWindhorse]

The FULL written transcript of AG’s Barr’s remarks .

Have it open while you listen and follow along :

Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers the 19th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society’s 2019 National Lawyers Convention
Washington, DC
~ Friday, November 15, 2019

https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-19th-annual-barbara-k-olson-memorial-lecture

[JoSixChip]

barr talks a good game, but I have yet to see him enforce it. It’s been four years, barr has had one, yet no one has been held countable to the governments efforts to stop Trump.

[LeoWindhorse]

It was once well recognized that such matters were largely unreviewable and that the courts should not be substituting their judgments for the prudential judgments reached by the accountable Executive officials. This outlook now seems to have gone by the boards. Courts are now willing, under the banner of judicial review, to substitute their judgment for the President’s on matters that only a few decades ago would have been unimaginable – such as matters involving national security or foreign affairs.

The Travel Ban case is a good example. There the President made a decision under an explicit legislative grant of authority, as well has his Constitutional national security role, to temporarily suspend entry to aliens coming from a half dozen countries pending adoption of more effective vetting processes. The common denominator of the initial countries selected was that they were unquestionable hubs of terrorism activity, which lacked functional central government’s and responsible law enforcement and intelligence services that could assist us in identifying security risks among their nationals seeking entry. Despite the fact there were clearly justifiable security grounds for the measure, the district court in Hawaii and the Ninth Circuit blocked this public-safety measure for a year and half on the theory that the President’s motive for the order was religious bias against Muslims. This was just the first of many immigration measures based on good and sufficient security grounds that the courts have second guessed since the beginning of the Trump Administration.

The Travel Ban case highlights an especially troubling aspect of the recent tendency to expand judicial review. The Supreme Court has traditionally refused, across a wide variety of contexts, to inquire into the subjective motivation behind governmental action. To take the classic example, if a police officer has probable cause to initiate a traffic stop, his subjective motivations are irrelevant. And just last term, the Supreme Court appropriately shut the door to claims that otherwise-lawful redistricting can violate the Constitution if the legislators who drew the lines were actually motivated by political partisanship.

[LeoWindhorse]

The impact of these judicial intrusions on Executive responsibility have been hugely magnified by another judicial innovation – the nationwide injunction. First used in 1963, and sparely since then until recently, these court orders enjoin enforcement of a policy not just against the parties to a case, but against everyone. Since President Trump took office, district courts have issued over 40 nationwide injunctions against the government. By comparison, during President Obama’s first two years, district courts issued a total of two nationwide injunctions against the government. Both were vacated by the Ninth Circuit.

It is no exaggeration to say that virtually every major policy of the Trump Administration has been subjected to immediate freezing by the lower courts. No other President has been subjected to such sustained efforts to debilitate his policy agenda

[qaz123]

Sorry.....not sorry to say it, but.....absolutely nothing he says, to the Federalist Society, any of you or me, means a hill of beans unless some high level folks go to prison. The coup is still going on with only a minor bump in the road. I’m not a SME on the NDAA, but I would think that there has to be provisions in there that deal with sabotage, illegal surveillance, sedition, treason, etc. And all these folks are strutting around DC going to happy hour and cocktail parties.

McCabe was caught lying to federal investigators. Or as Horowitz, whose report many think will save the country, described, lacking candor. The AUSA stated that charges are not being brought against him, while if you or I did it, we’d be charged with lying and already be in a federal penitentiary. Maybe he’s become a snitch, maybe he hasn’t.

Maybe there’s a master plan to round all of them in one fell swoop and get them to ratting each other out. Maybe there’s not.

Durham is the #2 that is going to save the country, because he’s a fair, unbiased attorney, who seeks justice. Maybe he is, maybe he’s not.

Sydney Powell, in a matter of weeks it seems, has shown that the case against Gen Flynn is built on lies, corruption, obstruction, not following the rules of the court or evidence, that his first lawyers seemed to be in on it, and coercion, to start with. DOJ has been shown to take its corruption to a whole new level from what they did to Sen Stevens. The case where the DOJ withheld evidence and the AUSAs, initially given very lenient punishments, got those punishments reversed, given back pay and kept their jobs. They should have been disbarred and prosecuted, as should all the AUSAs involved in Flynn’s case. Nothing.

Now we’re finding out, by what lead up to and from the “impeachment hearings”, how the Deep State and their minions are able to use taxpayer money, disguised as foreign aid, to launder it back into their own pockets. Must be nice to be in The Club and get rich for doing nothing but looking the other way as long as they break off a little piece for you.

I truly hope that I’m as wrong as any one person can be about Barr and Durham. I hope they drop the hammer on all of these people, the FISC judges as well and we get to witness all of them running to DOJ headquarters with all the evidence they should have been smart enough to stash, to save their own asses. Not holding my breath.

[Mr. N. Wolfe]

Not just the lower courts. SCOTUS blocked the administration from including the citizenship question on the 2020 census. I think that they (Chief Justice John Roberts) didn’t feel that the administration provided an adequate reason for including the citizenship question on the census.

[LeoWindhorse]

To my mind, the most blatant and consequential usurpation of Executive power in our history was played out during the Administration of President George W. Bush, when the Supreme Court, in a series of cases, set itself up as the ultimate arbiter and superintendent of military decisions inherent in prosecuting a military conflict – decisions that lie at the very core of the President’s discretion as Commander in Chief.

This usurpation climaxed with the Court’s 2008 decision in Boumediene. There, the Supreme Court overturned hundreds of years of American, and earlier British, law and practice, which had always considered decisions as to whether to detain foreign combatants to be purely military judgments which civilian judges had no power to review. For the first time, the Court ruled that foreign persons who had no connection with the United States other than being confronted by our military on the battlefield had “due process” rights and thus have the right to habeas corpus to obtain judicial review of whether the military has a sufficient evidentiary basis to hold them.

In essence, the Court has taken the rules that govern our domestic criminal justice process and carried them over and superimposed them on the Nation’s activities when it is engaged in armed conflict with foreign enemies. This rides roughshod over a fundamental distinction that is integral to the Constitution and integral to the role played by the President in our system.

[LeoWindhorse]

The idea that the judiciary acts as a neutral check on the political branches to protect foreign enemies from our government is insane.

[LeoWindhorse]

The fact that our courts are now willing to invade and muck about in these core areas of Presidential responsibility illustrates how far the doctrine of Separation of Powers has been eroded.

[LeoWindhorse]

In this partisan age, we should take special care not to allow the passions of the moment to cause us to permanently disfigure the genius of our Constitutional structure. As we look back over the sweep of American history, it has been the American Presidency that has best fulfilled the vision of the Founders. It has brought to our Republic a dynamism and effectiveness that other democracies have lacked.

At every critical juncture where the country has faced a great challenge –

– whether it be in our earliest years as the weak, nascent country combating regional rebellions, and maneuvering for survival in a world of far stronger nations;

– whether it be during our period of continental expansion, with the Louisiana Purchase, and the acquisition of Mexican territory;

– whether it be the Civil War, the epic test of the Nation;

– World War II and the struggle against Fascism;

– the Cold War and the challenge of Communism;

– the struggle against racial discrimination;

– and most recently, the fight against Islamist Fascism and international terrorism.

One would have to say that it has been the Presidency that has stepped to the fore and provided the leadership, consistency, energy and perseverance that allowed us to surmount the challenge and brought us success.

In so many areas, it is critical to our Nation’s future that we restore and preserve in their full vigor our Founding principles. Not the least of these is the Framers’ vision of a strong, independent Executive, chosen by the country as a whole.

[LongWayHome]

Our courts are so far out of control & distorted that it borders on the surreal.

As for Barr & the coup...time is running out. DO something AG!

[LeoWindhorse]

I agree

DO SOMETHING! (tangible)

3:AM no-knock warrants for the coup plotters would suit me just fiine

[angmo]

This guy is just a more visible Sessions. Deeds not words.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Time to go Full Pinochet on the Derp State.

[LeoWindhorse]

President Trump and the demise of the Deep State would be great aided and accelerated by the standing up of a multi-million member National Civilian Volunteer Militia, not subject to the Posse Commitatus Act.

[LongWayHome]

If they don’t release the IG Report before an impeachment vote we can assume that Barr is swamp. If Barr is with us he would logically want to stop impeachment in its tracks because it’s based on fraud.

[SkyPilot]

Sorry.....not sorry to say it, but.....absolutely nothing he says, to the Federalist Society, any of you or me, means a hill of beans unless some high level folks go to prison. The coup is still going on with only a minor bump in the road. I’m not a SME on the NDAA, but I would think that there has to be provisions in there that deal with sabotage, illegal surveillance, sedition, treason, etc. And all these folks are strutting around DC going to happy hour and cocktail parties.

Absolutely qaz. I agree with you.

McCabe was caught lying to federal investigators. Or as Horowitz, whose report many think will save the country, described, lacking candor.

One of the many reasons why I don't put a lot trust in Horowitz or his resplendent "Report."

Maybe there’s a master plan to round all of them in one fell swoop and get them to ratting each other out. Maybe there’s not.

I don't think there is a plan to round them up and arrest them. I think the DOJ will indict a few small fish and underlings of the coup. Hillary, Obama, Soros, and members of Congress will skate.

Sydney Powell, in a matter of weeks it seems, has shown that the case against Gen Flynn is built on lies, corruption, obstruction, not following the rules of the court or evidence, that his first lawyers seemed to be in on it, and coercion, to start with. DOJ has been shown to take its corruption to a whole new level from what they did to Sen Stevens.

The Flynn case is one of the greatest tragedies in all of this. He is a retired 3-star General who was the Director of DIA. He knew and knows everything, and that's why they went after him. He is now bankrupt, and his reputation ruined. And yes, Senator Stevens was also railroaded by DOJ. To be fair, so were many of the Enron executives. Who was in charge of that debacle? A piece of filth named Andrew Weissmann.

If the DOJ can use their corrupt system to literally destroy an innocent Senator and a General - they can do it to you and me.

Now we’re finding out, by what lead up to and from the “impeachment hearings”, how the Deep State and their minions are able to use taxpayer money, disguised as foreign aid, to launder it back into their own pockets. Must be nice to be in The Club and get rich for doing nothing but looking the other way as long as they break off a little piece for you.

Trump said the other day (to reporters) that in regards to corrupt D.C.: "I caught them all." While I have no doubt he knows their corruption well, they are not "caught." Not even close. Caught means they are arrested and indicted.

I truly hope that I’m as wrong as any one person can be about Barr and Durham. I hope they drop the hammer on all of these people, the FISC judges as well and we get to witness all of them running to DOJ headquarters with all the evidence they should have been smart enough to stash, to save their own asses. Not holding my breath.

The DOJ is infested with Democrats, to the rate of about 95%. That statistic was backed up by former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who stated that 96% of the political donations of DOJ employees went to Hillary Clinton.

Trump has one year left on his term. He is not guaranteed another. I had high hopes 3 years ago. I hoped for national reciprocity in gun laws. I hoped for the repeal of ObamaCare. I hoped for a tax cut (mine went up). I hoped for a lot of things. Trump has done some amazing things (rebuilding the military, his incredible support of Israel, and calling out the corrupt media and Democrats).

But what I really hoped for was Justice.

We haven't got it - not by a long shot.

[BuddhaBrown]

It was not a grand jury.

It was a speech to the Federalist Society.

Barr said things to a gaggle of prominent lawyers which few here would have predicted from a sitting AG in 2019.

The right wing version of cancel culture continues to condemn the man for future failings. Yet, for those who are able to simply appreciate the event and the score, this was a solid win.