February 18, 2020: Think the Rule of Law is Under Threat? More than 2,000 Former DOJ Officials Agree

 

2/18/20: If you’re not following this story you should: As of this morning, more than 2,000 veterans of the Department of Justice have signed a letter calling on “Banana Republic Bill” Barr to resign. 

That would be 2,003, to be exact.

Words carved on the walls of the Department of Justice.

 

____________________ 

“As former DOJ officials, we each proudly took an oath to support and defend our Constitution and faithfully execute the duties of our offices.” 

2,003 signatories

____________________

  

Based on a quick estimate, it seems likely they represent more than 20,000 cumulative years of experience at DOJ. Signatories have served every president, back as far as Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

These are people dedicated to the rule of law, men and women from both parties, and of no party affiliations, and they are deeply concerned. 

You can listen to them. Or you can listen to Trump, a profoundly flawed human being, and a prolific liar.

 

The American system of justice is not “a disgrace” as Trump has said repeatedly, every time he doesn’t get his way. Rather, Trump is a threat to the independence of the judicial branch of the federal government. 

If one leg of the Constitutional stool is broken, we’ll need a new seat to replace it, only this time a throne. 

The signatories agree: 

As former DOJ officials, we each proudly took an oath to support and defend our Constitution and faithfully execute the duties of our offices. The very first of these duties is to apply the law equally to all Americans. This obligation flows directly from the Constitution, and it is embedded in countless rules and laws governing the conduct of DOJ lawyers. The Justice Manual — the DOJ’s rulebook for its lawyers — states that “the rule of law depends on the evenhanded administration of justice”; that the Department’s legal decisions “must be impartial and insulated from political influence”; and that the Department’s prosecutorial powers, in particular, must be “exercised free from partisan consideration.”

 

…President Trump and Attorney General Barr have openly and repeatedly flouted this fundamental principle, most recently in connection with the sentencing of President Trump’s close associate, Roger Stone, who was convicted of serious crimes.

 

The president, of course, has been calling for Stone to get a much lighter sentence than was originally recommended (see below).

 

* 

IF THAT isn’t enough to worry you, it might be time to read a related story. Even Fox News has been forced to pay attention to an account that first broke in USA Today earlier this morning: 

A national association of federal judges reportedly called an emergency meeting Tuesday to tackle mounting concerns about President Trump and senior Justice Department officials’ intervention in cases involving Trump associates.

 

USA Today first reported that the independent Federal Judges Association would hold the meeting.

 

Philadelphia U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who leads the group of more than 1,000 federal judges, told USA Today that the group “could not wait” until their originally scheduled spring conference to address the issues.

 

…The emergency meeting comes after a tumultuous week at the Justice Department. Last week, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr intervened in the cases involving Trump associates Roger Stone and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

 

…Last Monday, federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of between 87 and 108 months in prison for Stone after he was convicted on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering, and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

 

As this blogger has repeatedly and correctly noted, every lie Stone told (and he told a great many) had the effect of shielding President Donald J. Trump during the Mueller investigation.

The rule of law was enshrined in 1215.
So far, it has survived for eight centuries.

De regula iuris est et mori. 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: When editing my blog, on 9/25/21, I checked the list of signatories on the letter calling for Barr to resign. 

That list eventually grew to 2,689.