In Deep: The FBI, the CIA, and the Truth about America's "Deep State"

by David Rohde

there’s something wrong about political officials reviewing cases,” Barr recalled in the 2001 interview. “Actually, this has largely been precipitated by the liberal critics of the Department of Justice and by the Democrats on the Hill. It’s very destructive to personal liberty because what they’re trying to do is to say that political-level people shouldn’t be reviewing cases.” Barr was espousing a view that was the polar opposite of the apolitical approach established by Gerald Ford’s attorney general Edward Levi. Barr argued that having political leaders review whether individuals should be criminally prosecuted would lead to more equitable outcomes. He argued that if elected leaders abused prosecutorial powers, they could be voted out of office. “The second-guessing is not for political reasons,” Barr said. “It’s really because someone is exercising some maturity of judgment, and putting things in perspective and saying, ‘Why would you indict this person over this?’” Skeptics argued that political leaders do not always show maturity of judgment.