U.S. Attorney General William Barr can¡¯t seem to get out of the headlines. Maybe he doesn¡¯t want to.
Just last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Barr suggested to federal prosecutors that they consider charging protesters with sedition ¡ª an archaic criminal charge that hasn¡¯t been regularly used by federal authorities since the McCarthy era. Barr also reportedly mused about finding a way to prosecute Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan for establishing a police-free protest zone in her city. Then, in a speech at Hillsdale College, Barr defended his penchant for overruling prosecutors, comparing them to children in a Montessori school.
For any normal attorney general, the recent controversies would have marked a crisis accompanied by demands that he resign and serious speculation that he would be forced to do so. Not so for Barr, who clearly enjoys President Donald Trump¡¯s support. Barr, more than any attorney general in memory, is inserting himself into the business of criminal prosecution by proposing unorthodox strategies that serve the president¡¯s political ends.
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