Former U.S. Attorney General William Pelham Barr came to Thomas Aquinas College, California, last week to give the 2024 Presidents’ Day lecture.
“I am delighted to be here, because this institution, to me, is on the front line of what we have to do to restore the foundation upon which our system rests, both in the City of God and in the City of Man.”
In his hourlong address, “Today’s Challenges to Our Constitution,” Mr. Barr spoke to some 500 students, faculty, staff, and members of the Board of Governors about “the steady grinding down of the executive branch’s authority” in the post-Watergate era, a result of “the encroachments of the other branches.” These incursions, he lamented, have occurred under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, undermining the founders’ vision of a robust presidency to unite and lead the republic.
“The framers felt that they needed a strong executive that was able to act with energy, consistency, decisiveness, and they came to feel that had to be provided by an individual, in solitary hands, who was free and separate from the divided counsels of the legislative branch,” said Mr. Barr. “So, they vested all executive power in one official: the President of the United States.”
Upon arriving on campus, Mr. Barr visited with students and members of the Board of Governors, then toured Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel and St. Bernardine of Siena Library before attending a formal All-College Dinner, held in his honor, in St. Joseph Commons. At his ensuing lecture in St. Cecilia Hall’s Fritz B. Burns Auditorium, he discussed the differing conceptions of executive authority, dating back to 17th century England, that shaped the American founders’ conception of the separation of powers. Deviating from this conception, he argued, reflects a political ruthlessness that prioritizes expedience over the country’s constitutional order.
“What accounts for the anything-goes, no-holds-barred mentality which you’re seeing in our politics?” Mr. Barr asked. “Up until, I think, about 30 years ago or so, both political parties were concerned about preserving the overall integrity and function of our political system. … They were hesitant to take action without asking the key question, which is, ‘What happens when the shoe is on the other foot? If the other side were to do this, what would happen to the system? And how will this affect it over the long run?’ We’re seeing less and less of this kind of prudence; it’s all about immediate political usefulness. We’ll do anything to prevail today regardless of the cost tomorrow.”
“At the end of the day, this isn’t about fights over law and using the law as a way of forcing people to live their lives the way we think or the way some other people think.”
From the article.
He was not using the phrase “on the front line” as if in battle but “It’s about hearts and minds,” “…this institution, to me, is on the front line of what we have to do to restore the foundation upon which our system rests, both in the City of God and in the City of Man. In this partisan age, with all its passions and intensities, we have to take special care not to allow these passions of the moment to cause us to permanently disfigure the genius of our Constitutional structure.”
Is YFC still around? Alive?
after watching the state of the union i’m embarrassed that Biden is Catholic
what took you so long?
I’m embarrassed that he’s the president.
The State of the Union address should be the state of the union, the US. We have this many citizens, this many non-citizens living here. We have this many people in poverty, in hospitals and nursing home, in schools and public schools.
Our citizens have died from these things. Our citizens are suffering in these ways. Our enemies are…our allies are.
Proposals for legislation.
It has gotten to be a total train wreck.
Thanks to TV, it has become a political propaganda speech given by the president on behalf of himself and his political party. Anyone who’s paying attention can see that the state of the union is a dumpster fire. Everyone who is sane and rational realizes that the Democrat Party and President Biden are to blame for the deteriorating state of the union.
If Republicans are keeping the disaster at the border from being fixed for political reasons as was charged, that is not ok.
However, it seems to me that putting fentanyl detecting machines at the border would be within the scope of the Executive Branch and would not need special legislation from Congress.
Anybody know?
Fact: illegal border crossings dropped to record lows under President Trump due to his enforcement of existing border and immigration laws.
Fact: President Biden issued 90 executive orders during his first days in office that undid President Trump’s border enforcement policies.
Fact: Illegal border crossings are now higher than at any other time in U.S. history.
Fact: all President Biden had to do to maintain border security and prevent illegal border crossings was continue President Trump’s effective policies.
Fact: no new legislation is needed to secure the border and prevent illegal entry into the U.S.
Fact: it is Democrats who are purposely being lax on border security and illegal immigration for political reasons. They are attempting to reconstitute the American population with Democrat-sympathetic voters.
The charge that was made in the speech (transcript from AP)
“That bipartisan bill would hire 1,500 more security agents and officers, 100 more immigration judges to help tackle the backload of 2 million cases, 4,300 more asylum officers, and new policies so they can resolve cases in six months instead of six years now. What are you against?
One hundred more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles smuggling fentanyl into America that’s killing thousands of children.
This bill would save lives and bring order to the border.
It would also give me and any new president new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.
The Border Patrol union has endorsed this bill.
But unfortunately, politics have derailed this bill so far.
I’m told my predecessor called members of Congress in the Senate to demand they block the bill. He feels political win — he viewed it as a — it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him. It’s not about him. It’s not about me. I’d be a winner — not really. I —”
Then he was interrupted by a Republican member of Congress (Marjorie Taylor Greene)
TAC did nobody a favor by inviting a swamp creature to campus.
Barr’s pre-crime policies were straight out of the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report.
So much for the Magna Carta and habeas corpus … and thousands of years of legal tradition.
Barr did nothing when BLM was burning down cities across America, nor when elections were being stolen.
His father was a Deep State operative who ran the Dalton School that Jeffrey Epstein attended … and appears to have invented Epstein’s playbook.
For more sordid details of the Barr family’s Swamp connections, I strongly recommend Whitney Webb’s book “One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime”.
The corruption runs all the way, top to bottom.
The unelected Deep State runs it all … and Barr appears to be one of THEM.
Barr is not a good choice for the school. Full stop! But I have met too many good, dedicated and highly skilled people working for the government to agree with you generalizations about some deep state. Are there people working for the government who design and implement policies for laws that Congress passes? Of course. That is their job. We could not operate without them. Think of all the people who operate our national parks and monuments. We need them. Think of the people who try to make our food and medicine safe. We need them. Think of the people who design our roads and bridges. We need these engineers. They are all not even close to being a deep state.
As an aside, stop with the stolen election thing. There is no evidence, none, that there was a stolen election. They counted the votes and Hillary lost. They counted the votes and Donald lost. That is how it works. We will count the votes again in November and one old man will get more votes that the other old man. Buckle up!