Who is the current US Attorney general? William Pelham Barr is the active attorney of the state. Barr, a well-respected Republican lawyer, was a possible candidate to succeed President Donald Trump’s former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who was pushed out last month after mid-term elections.
William Barr’s early life, Education & Career
Let’s dig into the life main events of the US current attorney general. Hope this read will give you detailed information about William Barr.
Early Life & Education:
US current attorney general was born in 1950 in New York City. His father, Donald Barr, taught English literature at Columbia University & Barr’s mother, Mary Margaret (née Ahern), also taught in Columbia. Barr’s father was a Jew, raised in Judaism, but later converted to Christianity and entered the Catholic Church. His mother is of Irish origin.
Barr has been raised as a Catholic. Barr was the second son and his younger brother Stephen Barr is a Physics Professor at Delaware University.
After high school, he attended Columbia University, where he majored in government and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971. He graduated from Columbia & earned a Master of Arts in Government and Chinese Studies in 1973.
Barr moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a CIA intelligence analyst while attending evening classes at George Washington University Law School, graduating in 1977 with the highest honors Juris Doctor.
William’s Career before joining DOJ:
From 1971 to 1977, while completing Graduate School and Law School, Barr worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He was first hired as a summer intern for two years. During his law school years, he worked as an analyst in the Intelligence Division from 1973 to 1975, then as an assistant to the Legislative Council Office and as a liaison to Congress.
After graduating from law school in 1977, Barr spent one year as a law clerk with Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the United States. Circuit. After joining the law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman) from 1978 to 1982 and again from 1983 to 1989, he served as Deputy Assistant Director of Legal Policy at the Reagan White House from May 1982 to September 1983
Summary: William Barr was a well high profile figure even before joining the Department of Justice ( DOJ). He earned his name by putting so much hard work into his legal career. He did a social worker & involved in different student societies & legal protests.
Highlights of William’s Career at US DOJ:
President George H. W. Bush has named Barr to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as Deputy Attorney General of the Legal Counsel Office (OLC). The milestones of the current US attorney general are as follows;
He wrote an advisory opinion justifying the invasion of Panama by the United States and the detention of Manuel Noriega.
He wrote legal justifications for the practice of surrender so that the FBI could enter foreign territories without the permission of the host government to capture fugitives wanted by the US government for terrorism or drug trafficking.
Barr refused the Legislative request for a full 1989 opinion, but instead issued a document that “summarises the key conclusions.” Congress submitted an opinion, and its public release after Barr’s resignation from the Department of Justice revealed that he had excluded important findings from his summary document opinion.
Summary: Barr held numerous other positions within the Department of Justice, including the Office of the Legal Counsel (OLC) and the Deputy Attorney General. From 1994 to 2008, Barr did corporate legal work for GTE and its successor Verizon Communications, which made him a multimillionaire. From 2009 to 2018, Barr served on the Board of Directors of Time Warner.
Tenure as U.S. Attorney General (1991–1993)
In the handling of the ■■■■■■■ crisis, William Barr stood high; weeks later, Bush nominated him as Attorney General. Barr enjoyed a “good reputation” among Republican and Democratic politicians alike.
The media described Barr as "a staunch conservative who seldom hesitates to bring his hard-line views into motion. He was described as being affable with dry, self-deprecating humor.
In 1992, Barr published a paper, The Case for Further Incarceration, which called for a rise in the rate of incarceration in the United States, the establishment of a national initiative to create further prisons, and the elimination of parole.
Barr named then retired Democratic Chicago Judge Nicholas Bua as special counsel for the Inslaw scandal in 1991. Bua’s 1993 report found the Department of Justice guilty of no wrongdoing in the matter.
During his final month in office, Bush, on the advice of Barr on 24 December 1992, pardoned Weinberger along with five other officials of the administration who had been found guilty on charges relating to the Iran-Contra affair.
Because of this and Barr’s refusal to name an independent prosecutor to look into the second scandal known as Iraq gate, New York Times writer William Safire started to refer to Barr as “General Barr 's cover-up.”
Summary: In his second tenure William is facing tough times not only from opponents but also from his party. Even though he has got a strong back of Trump but still faces trials every other day. Barr’s contentious tenure started with his attempts to predict the actual substance of the Mueller Report, using the four-page overview he submitted to Congress in March 2018.
U.S. Attorney General (2019–present)
Upon leaving the DOJ in 1993, Barr has appointed Virginia Governor George Allen to co-chair a commission to pursue stricter criminal justice measures and abolish state parole.
Barr has been described as the “leader of the movement on parole and abolition” in Virginia.
On 7 December 2018, President Donald Trump confirmed Barr’s appointment to succeed Jeff Sessions.Barr was confirmed as Attorney General on 14 February 2019.
Barr was sworn in as the nation’s 85th Attorney General. He was the first person to be appointed to a second non-consecutive term as Attorney General since the time of John J. Crittenden in 1850.
In July 2019, the House of Representatives voted 230–198 to keep Barr (and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross) in criminal contempt of Congress after failing to produce documents as required by Congressional subpoenas in April 2019.
Barr restored the death penalty for federal offenses on July 25, 2019.
In early June 2020, according to reports by The Washington Post and Fox News, Barr personally ordered the streets around Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.
It should be cleared so that Trump, Barr, and other government officials could stage a photo op in front of St. John’s Church.
About the legitimacy of the election, Barr raised concerns about election protection by saying that he was “very concerned” about foreign countries manufacturing counterfeit absentee ballots and sending them to the 2020 elections.
Trump directed Barr to define “anarchist jurisdictions,” on September 3, 2020, "It is imperative that the federal government investigate the use of federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in American cities.
These are the few main events so far from the current US attorney general.
Summary: Barr is now one of the most consistent figures in the administration of Donald Trump, insulating the president from the critics, bringing to life Trump’s public protest exhortations, and joining him in sowing doubts about the legitimacy of the upcoming election. Trump has proven to be the perfect vehicle for Barr’s decades-long pursuit of a strong “Unitary Executive” with little oversight over his power and broad authority to override Congressional demands
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Here are few frequently asked questions that will surely strengthen your learning about the current US attorney general.
Who was the last attorney general of the United States?
Incumbent William P. Barr as of February 14, 2019, was the last attorney general of the USA.
Has the US ever had a female attorney general?
Since 1959, 34 states have named or elected women as attorneys-general. Pennsylvania had a record of three women holding office as Attorney General
Who was the first female attorney general of the United States?
President Bill Clinton nominated Reno on 11 February 1993, and she was confirmed by the Senate the following month. She was the first woman to serve as Attorney General and the second longest-serving Attorney General in U.S. history, after William Wirt.
How much does the attorney general of the United States make?
Annual salary range from $ 51000 - $95000.
How many United States attorneys are there?
Currently, there are 93 U.S. Attorneys: one for each of the 94 federal judicial districts, with the exception of Guam and Northern Marianas, where there is only one U.S. The Attorney serves the two districts.
Can US attorney be fired?
By tradition, all of the U.S. Attorneys are asked to resign at the beginning of the new administration. The new President may elect to retain or remove any U.S. Attorney, guy. Traditionally, they are replaced collectively only at the beginning of the new administration of the White House.
Conclusion:
He is a favorite among a variety of White House officials, including those in the White House Counsel Office, the Post reported. Barr served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush for two years until Bush lost his bid for re-election to former President Bill Clinton.
He was the 77th U.S. Attorney General during the George H. W. Bush administration from 1991 to 1993 and returned to office as the 85th U.S. Attorney General under the Trump presidency in February 2019.
During his current term, he was criticized by some for coping with a variety of problems, including his mischaracterized summary and selective writing of the Mueller report, interventions in guilty prosecutions, and penalties by former advisors to President Trump.