Attorney General William Barr recently criticized President Donald Trump for making his job impossible to do.
As much as I welcome his pushback, I am disappointed that he did not give a full-throated defense of the Department of Justice and more generally of the justice system in the United States.
What distinguished our justice system from autocratic regimes is that we have a system of justice that is believed by most people to be fair and based on well-established law developed over many years. Our justice does not depend upon one man’s interpretation of what is just.
We also have a functioning and well-established means for individuals to seek redress if they believe they have been wronged by the justice system. At least that is until President Trump came along and said he is the chief law enforcement officer in the country.
The founders of our country gave the president the unlimited right to pardon anyone, believing that to err on the side of leniency is better than to err on the side of overly strict punishment.
However, I don’t believe they ever envisioned a president who would use his power to subvert the justice system and reward his friends. Does anyone now believe that justice can be served equally by the Justice Department? We now need any attorney general to speak up for justice in America and not just for himself. But Attorney General Barr is too much of a Trump toady to do that.
CRAIG FOURNIER
Webster