Politics - News Analysis

HUGE: Federal Judges Group Holds Emergency Meeting About A.G. Barr’s Wrongful Political Bias

I have never heard of something like this happening. I have never heard of a judicial council or any judicial group ever meet about a problem that so obviously references political issues of the day.

The Federal Judges Association will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address Bill Barr’s interference and intervention into politically sensitive cases on behalf of Donald Trump.

Philadelphia Federal District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who heads the group, says “the meeting cannot wait.”

It should be noted that Cynthia Rufe was appointed by George “W” Bush.

Barr’s intervention into the Roger Stone case, a personal friend and confidant of Donald Trump, seems to have been the last straw.

“There are plenty of issues that we are concerned about,” Rufe said. “We’ll talk all of this through.”

USA Today, which reported on the meeting also noted the story that we covered earlier today:

“The unusual concern voiced by the judges’ group comes in the wake of an equally unusual protest. More than 2,000 former Justice Department officials called on Barr to resign Sunday, claiming his handling of the Stone case ‘openly and repeatedly flouted’ the principle of equal justice,” USA Today noted.

The judicial association cannot “do” anything to Barr in any official capacity. The body has no official power meeting as a group. It does have tremendous influence and can raise awareness, especially by making such an unprecedented move. More importantly, a strong statement by the association would go a long way to back-up any individual judge who might sanction Barr or even the president for inappropriate behavior in any case.

Judges have no power outside of the case in front of him or her. If a single judge does face a case in which the Department of Justice seems to have acted purely politically or inappropriately, that judge can sanction the Justice Department or Barr himself. Any statement made by this association would provide significant support in legitimizing such a sanction.

One official act that the association could initiate is a bar complaint (no pun intended). The judges can refer Bill Barr’s behavior to the District of Columbia bar, and any state in which the A.G. holds a law license. Such a complaint could bring about a contested case to get Barr sanctioned or even disbarred, which would make him ineligible for the position.

It is a hugely significant development which demonstrates that the country is truly waking up to the dangers in this post-acquittal dictatorship. The warning signs are all around us and seem to be growing stronger each day. Symbolic statements such as this one do matter, they are not nearly as toothless as they might first seem.

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Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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