Lowering the Conservative Barr

Illustration of the human Adenovirus, one of several
causes of viral conjunctivitis, or pink eye

Saturday morning marked the first time in three weeks that I could swallow without grimacing in agony.

Now that might not register as significant in the eyes of the casual observer, but after battling one of the most persistent throat viruses I've ever been infected with, it feels like nothing short of a welcome milestone to me.

As if that unpleasant throat business wasn't enough, a nasty, viral pink eye infection decided to set up shop in my right eye too.

These unwelcome visitors made for some long and restless nights over the past three weeks.

It also made for more than a few missed days of work too; during which I went through boxes of tissues, took copious amounts of Ibuprofen and gargled with salt water so frequently my throat is still a little raw.

Even though my throat is better and the Polymyxin B Sulfate + Trimethoprim antibiotic eye drops have dispatched most of the pink eye, in the interest of recovery I decided to lay low this past weekend.

So my Saturday and Sunday mostly consisted of watching coverage of The Masters, a trip to the gym, cleaning my apartment, doing laundry and rewatching past seasons of Game of Thrones on HBO in preparation for the long awaited final season premiere on Sunday night.

Battling the aforementioned virus made me really recognize just how fortunate I am to have comprehensive health coverage through work - when you're healthy it's easy to look at one's paycheck and raise an eyebrow at the bi-monthly health insurance deductions.

But when I felt sick, I was able to pick up the phone and go see my primary care physician to find out what was going on - and know that my co-pay and prescription prices would be relatively cheap.

Attorney General Bob Barr testifying before a
House Appropriations subcommittee last week

Just knowing that put my mind at ease.

Aside from the obvious fact that pink eye (or conjunctivitis) is highly contagious and the most sensible thing from both a personal and public health standpoint was to start treating it as quickly as possible to minimize the chance of my spreading it to others.

As the Affordable Care Act stipulates, the ability to see a physician or qualified nurse to get a health issue evaluated and treated should be a basic, affordable right - because it's good for the health of the larger society as a whole.

That's part of what confuses me about the bizarre, politically partisan testimony of Attorney General Bob Barr last week in front of a House Appropriations subcommittee.

As part of the barrage of questions Trump's controversial AG pick faced on Capitol Hill last Tuesday during almost three hours of hearings on the budget of the Department of Justice for the coming fiscal year, Barr sent yet another signal that he intends to use the power of his office as a platform to promote the policy agenda of the Trump administration.

He basically testified that he thinks it's his job to attack the Affordable Care Act in court.

As David Lurie observed in his April 12th Slate article, last month the Department of Justice announced that it would no longer go to court to defend the ACA against the slew of mostly frivolous and legally-shaky lawsuits brought by a consortium of conservative special interest groups and at least 20 Republican attorneys general of "Red" states where Republicans control the legislatures and occupy the governor's mansions.

That decision came a year after the DOJ announced it would no longer defend whether the ACA's protections for those with preexisting medical conditions are constitutionally protected.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, one of 20
Republican AG's filing lawsuits against the ACA

Lurie's Slate piece notes that Barr's insistence on the DOJ now taking the unprecedented step of joining those lawsuits against the ACA, legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, represents a dangerous and radical reinterpretation of the role of attorney general.

By definition, the attorney general of the United States is the head of the Department of Justice and the chief lawyer for the federal government.

In essence, he or she is charged with acting as the people's lawyer.

But because of Trump's (and other Republicans) obsession with dismantling the ACA, Bob Barr is now open about using the power of his office to attack a federal law (ACA) in court - with the help of Republican state attorneys general like the Obama-hating, right-wing Tea Party shill, Texas AG Ken Paxton (pictured above). *

* Texas Fun Fact! In 2015 Ken Paxton was criminally charged with working as an investment advisor without properly registering with the Texas State Securities Board - he violated Texas law by taking fees for soliciting clients for Mowery Capital Management - and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought civil charges against him as well. 

As Emma Platoff reported for the Texas Tribune, In January, 2019 Paxton's wife, Republican Texas State Senator Angela Paxton filed Senate Bill 860 which would empower the state AG's office to exempt certain individuals who market "innovative financial products or services" from having to register with the state board - meaning Paxton would be able to exempt himself and whoever he sees fit from a law he violated. 

It's as if Bob Barr is acting as a de facto attorney for Trump, eager to strip healthcare from millions of Americans to please his erratic new boss' vindictive impulses - rather than acting as the chief lawyer for the federal government to protect American's healthcare.

Trump greeting his new Attorney General slash
personal lawyer Bob Barr in the Oval Office 

It's not like Barr's political loyalty to the Republican Party and the Trump White House was some kind of state secret or anything.

After all this is the guy who wrote and sent an unsolicited 20-page memo to the DOJ back in June, 2018 criticizing the scope of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

A peculiar document in which he also floated a constitutionally-shaky and remarkably broad few of Trump's executive privilege.

As ACLU staff attorneys Jonathan Hafetz and Brett Max Kaufman observed back in January,
Former Obama administration lawyer Marty Lederman critiqued Barr's unsolicited memo for "the notion that the president has 'absolute' and 'all-encompassing' constitutional authority over actions by executive branch officers in carrying out law enforcement powers given to them by Congress, including decisions about criminal investigation and prosecution."

Given such lofty views of presidential power, which essentially portray the president as some kind of untouchable wizard-king incapable of committing a crime by virtue of his office, is it any wonder Barr shot straight to the top of the short-list of candidates to replace the oft-maligned former AG Jeff Sessions?

Considering that Barr wrote his memo to the DOJ in June, 2018, and Trump fired Jeff Sessions four months later in November, 2018, the memo reads less like a rambling meditation on the scope of presidential power and more like a 20-page essay which could be subtitled, "Why Donald Trump Should Pick Me As the Next U.S. Attorney General."

In the wake of Barr's intentional slow-walking of the release of the Mueller report and his release of a wimpy 4-page summary of what he claimed were his own "principle conclusions" of the Mueller report, his confrontational views on using his office to try and dismantle the ACA could arguably be considered a brazen attempt at a distraction, or a two-pronged attack on the American people.

Perhaps it's both considering his brief, shifty tenure as AG.

The week before last Barr made vague assurances about releasing a redacted version of the report "next week" when he knew most members of Congress would be away from Washington on their annual 2-week Easter break.   

Today multiple media outlets claim a redacted version of the Mueller report will be released to both Congress and the public this Thursday - I'll believe that when I can read it.

In the meantime I'm just thankful that someone like Bob Barr can't take my healthcare away, as I lament the lowering of the bar at the Department of Justice.