by Bob Barr | Apr 15, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Townhall With various states already postponing primary elections in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, questions are surfacing about whether to postpone the November 3rd general election. The complexities inherent in such consideration would make even the most seasoned constitutional expert’s eyes glaze over. Though we thankfully appear to be past the peak of COVID-19 infections, there is a real possibility of another viral cycle later this year; meaning the November election could take place in circumstances similar to those we face today, with mandated “social distancing” and “lockdowns” in place. This is where things become seriously and constitutionally muddled. Per the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, terms of the President and Vice President end at Noon on January 20th. Likewise, every House Member’s term ends on January 3rd, as does the term of every Senator who currently is up for reelection on November 3rd. While Congress is empowered to set the date of the election by law, the terms of the president, the vice president, all 435 House members, and one-third of Senators are set by the Constitution and cannot extend beyond those dates. No “state of emergency” can change this. So, who would serve as president and vice president if the November 3rd election was postponed? “The Speaker of the House” is the obvious answer, but it is hardly that simple. Should an election not take place before these terms expire, there would be no Speaker of the House because Nancy Pelosi would not have been reelected to represent the people of the 12th District of California. But, hold on a moment — since the House elects...
by Bob Barr | Apr 13, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Daily Caller At this point in the COVID-19 pandemic, most government sectors are playing out their roles according to script. Congress is throwing money at the problem. Liberal governors are preening for the cameras and auditioning to be chosen by Joe Biden to be his running mate. The mainstream media is obsessed with criticizing Trump’s every move. Local government officials of all political stripes are becoming mini-despots — ordering law enforcement to yank people off buses if they are not wearing mandated personal protective equipment (PPE) and instructing police to intimidate parishioners wanting to attend in-car religious services. Federal regulatory bureaucrats are doing what they do best – demanding that every rule be followed to the T even if doing so slows down salubrious processes. Outside the glare of the TV cameras, however, it is the president, perhaps alone, who is trying to take meaningful steps that will actually improve the chances the United States will be better prepared to both avert a future health crisis imported from outside our borders as well as to respond to health crises wherever their origin. Regulatory reform has been the quiet storm of the Trump administration. Unnecessary and burdensome rules have been identified and, where possible without congressional action, limited or rolled back entirely. The Left, as seen in a recent New York Times piece by Lisa Friedman, is worried sick about Trump’s efforts in this regard. Liberal efforts to slow this hallmark policy of the administration, however, will not succeed; unless, of course, the November election returns control of either the White House or the Senate (or both) to Democrat control. Long before...
by Bob Barr | Apr 8, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Everything New York Sen. Chuck Schumer says is political; and since President Trump took office in January 2017, everything Schumer says is political with an anti-Trump stinger. However, the Senator’s recent call for the President “to designate a senior military officer” to control the federal government’s COVID-19 response, is dead wrong. The proposal reflects a troubling perspective that, while perhaps popular to many citizens in times of crisis, cuts against the grain of how our country is governed; that is, if in accord with the principles and philosophy underlying our founding charter. The United States is a constitutional republic governed by individuals accountable to the people. This principle is codified in the Constitution itself, and explained further and at length in documents from The Federalist Papers to Supreme Court opinions, and in extensive presidential commentary beginning with George Washington. As noted by Richard Brookhiser in his book, “George Washington on Leadership,” it was our very first Commander in Chief who “made the template for American military leaders and their civilian superiors” (emphasis mine). America at its core is a country led by civilians according to civil law, not military individuals operating according to martial law. The distinction is not merely technical or strictly statutory (though such distinctions are extremely important). The “template” establishing the supremacy of civilian leadership over military in our country and in our culture, reflects also the civilian mind-set over the military. Armed forces operate on strict chain-of-command. Navy Captain Brett Crozier, former commander of the nuclear aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, recently learned that going outside the chain of command brings serious consequences. Principles of civilian due process and equal protection...
by Bob Barr | Apr 6, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Daily Caller “Hotspot” is a word that has gained new meaning these past four weeks. Early predictions that February had brought us simply another seasonal flu of the “coronavirus” type quickly gave way to the harsh reality that the United States, as with democracies and totalitarian regimes alike across the globe, is going to be fighting this virus for quite some time to come. Residents from virus “hotspots” like New York City and New Orleans are being “blacklisted” from travelling into less-affected areas of the country. Even states in America’s heartland, such as Illinois, are emerging as viral hotspots. People everywhere are struggling. The unemployment numbers have skyrocketed. You know things are bad when the ink barely has dried on the presidential signature for a $2 trillion spending bill, and already even Republican senators are entertaining talk of yet another spending bill to come. We now are approaching the middle of April, when many experts predict the number of COVID-19 cases will peak. And yet, at this very time — before hardly any of the federal stimulus money has been mailed from the U.S. Treasury to millions of families that live paycheck-to-paycheck — families in parts of the country may be facing higher utility bills not caused by weather, but by legislatively-permitted rate hikes. Maintaining livable conditions, which is dependent on adequate and constant electrical power for homes, businesses and hospitals, is essential for the success of both mandated and voluntary quarantine efforts. Even during “normal” times, people on ventilators have died because of power shutoffs following their inability to keep current their utility bills. Some states have been...
by Bob Barr | Apr 2, 2020 | Uncategorized |
American Action News Political maps of the United States routinely distinguish between “blue” and “red” states, with the descriptors providing a short-hand way to differentiate between “liberal” or Democrat-leaning states (blue) and those that are more “conservative” or Republican-leaning (red). While these color-coded distinctions never provided anything approaching a scientific formulation of politics within states, they have remained in common usage for more than two decades. The manner in which states currently are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, illustrates clearly that when it comes to dealing with “emergencies,” red states are equally as eager to push aside privacy, property and other rights fundamental to individual liberty as are their blue counterparts. And it is not only the more “moderate” or liberal-leaning Republican governors, such as Maryland’s Larry Hogan, who figure in such analysis. That Californian Gavin Newsom jumped on the statewide “lockdown” bandwagon early in the coronavirus crisis surprised no one; he is the uber-liberal governor of an ultra-liberal state. Similarly, it came as no great surprise that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy pushed the envelope of emergency executive power when he closed all gun stores in the Commonwealth (a move he has since been forced to reverse). However, it was not blue states that started the cascade of states canceling by executive orders long-scheduled primary elections due to fears that voters would be susceptible to catching the virus while standing in line to vote. That questionable process was led by red states, including Ohio, Georgia and Louisiana. It was North Carolina, a formerly red state trending to “purple,” that was early to close off its beautiful and...
by Bob Barr | Mar 30, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Daily Caller In the song, Things Have Changed, Bob Dylan observed that “people are crazy and times are strange.” There are few compositions that better capture the nature of the world in which we now find ourselves than those lyrics penned by Dylan two decades ago for the movie Wonder Boys. The strangest thing of all is that times are certain to become even stranger in the days ahead. Glimpses of what is in store for us appeared this past weekend in several places, from Maine to Florida. Federally enforced geographic quarantines were suggested by President Trump in comments to the White House press corps as he was leaving for Norfolk to be present for the departure of the Hospital Ship USNS Comfort, which was headed to New York City to help doctors and hospitals in that COVID-19 beleaguered city. While Trump verbally backtracked on the quarantine comments following pushback from Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose citizens would be on the receiving end of such a draconian measure. The move obviously is something the federal government is considering and likely already has plans drawn up to justify and implement. As we saw in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9-11, the U.S. Department of Justice is always ready with memoranda to justify whatever “emergency” action a president might take as “commander-in-chief.” It was in those days right after 9-11 that high-level government lawyers drafted memos arguing that whatever the president does as “commander-in-chief” is permissible – even deploying the U.S. armed forces inside our borders for law enforcement purposes without being subject to limitations in the Bill of Rights....
