William Barr
To all my colleagues at the Department of Justice, let me say that it is a privilege to serve with you. I will do all I can to support your work in advancing the cause of justice.
I have long believed that there is no finer group than those who serve in the Department of Justice.
There is no more important institution in our country than the Department of Justice.
The role of the federal prosecutor and the purpose of a criminal investigation are well-defined.
By definition, a Special Counsel is charged with investigating particular potential crimes, not all potential crimes wherever they may be found.
The core civil liberty that underpins our American criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence. Every person enjoys this presumption long before the commencement of any investigation or official proceeding.
The responsibility of the Department of Justice, when it comes to law enforcement, is to determine whether crimes have been committed and to prosecute those crimes under the principles of federal prosecution.
Our greatest strength in our fight for justice is our people - the thousands of men and women who have dedicated their careers, often at great personal sacrifice, to working for justice in America.
There are many factors that affect crime rates. But we recognize that the main reason crime has decreased has always been - and always will be - the dangerous and stressful work done by state and local law enforcement officers day in and day out.
Since 1992 we have made dramatic progress in reducing violent crime.
Law enforcement officers do heroic work every day in this country. And at the Department of Justice, we honor every single officer who wears the badge.
It was once understood that resistance is a serious crime because it necessarily triggers an escalation of violence that endangers the life not only of the police office, but also the suspect.
The Medal of Valor is this nation's highest and most prestigious award for public safety officers.
Every Medal of Valor recipient has confronted life-threatening danger. Each had their fight-or-flight moment. But each one stood their ground for our safety. We hold them up as examples to other first responders - and to all Americans.
I feel a special bond with the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
We know that the American people are only safe because our law enforcement officers face danger. We can only rest easy because they never rest. And we can only dwell in peace because they stand between us and the danger.
Every officer can be assured: you have the unequivocal support of the Department of Justice. We have your back, and you have our thanks.
The value of an aware is inextricably linked to the character of the organization presenting it.
Our founding fathers recognized that morality was the foundation of a successful republic.
Freedom of religion requires not only freeing religion from undue government regulation and interference. It also requires freeing religion from discrimination and from vile acts of hatred and persecution.
The central genius of the American Constitution lies in its use of structure to protect individual liberty. It does not rely solely, or even primarily, on grants of substantive rights.
Nationwide injunctions undermine the democratic process, depart from history and tradition, violate constitutional principles, and impede sound judicial administration, all at the cost of public confidence in our institutions and particularly in our courts as apolitical decision-makers dispassionately applying objective law.
When a nationwide injunction constrains a significant executive policy, the Justice Department has little choice but to seek emergency relief.
Nationwide injunctions not only allow district courts to wield unprecedented power, they also allow district courts to wield it asymmetrically.
It is entirely reasonable to want to know how many citizens and non-citizens there are in the United States.
In my view, the government has ample justification to inquire about citizenship status on the census and could plainly provide rationales for doing so that would satisfy the Supreme Court.
Even in the best of times, there is no tougher calling than serving as a police officer.
It is imperative that state and local jurisdictions not scrimp on investing in law enforcement.
American Indian and Alaska Native people suffer from unacceptable and disproportionately high levels of violence, which can have lasting impacts on families and communities.
We believe that when technology providers deploy encryption in their products, services, and platforms they need to maintain an appropriate mechanism for lawful access.
With the growing availability of commoditized encryption, it is becoming easier for common criminals to communicate beyond the reach of traditional surveillance.
While we should not hesitate to deploy encryption to protect ourselves from cybercriminals, this should not be done in a way that eviscerates society's ability to defend itself against other types of criminal threats. In other words, making our virtual world more secure should not come at the expense of making us more vulnerable in the real world.
While encryption protects against cyberattacks, deploying it in warrant-proof form jeopardizes public safety more generally.
From the Founding Era onward, there was strong consensus about the centrality of religious liberty in the United States.
The imperative of protecting religious freedom was not just a nod in the direction of piety. It reflects the Framers' belief that religion was indispensable to sustaining our free system of government.
Men are subject to powerful passions and appetites, and, if unrestrained, are capable of ruthlessly riding roughshod over their neighbors and the community at large.
No society can exist without some means for restraining individual rapacity.
I deeply admire the American Presidency as a political and constitutional institution. I believe it is, one of the great, and remarkable innovations in our Constitution, and has been one of the most successful features of the Constitution in protecting the liberties of the American people.
The consensus for a strong, independent Executive arose from the Framers' experience in the Revolution and under the Articles of Confederation. They had seen that the War had almost been lost and was a bumbling enterprise because of the lack of strong Executive leadership.
In so many areas, it is critical to our Nation's future that we restore and preserve in their full vigor our Founding principles. Not the least of these is the Framers' vision of a strong, independent Executive, chosen by the country as a whole.
As we look back over the sweep of American history, it has been the American Presidency that has best fulfilled the vision of the Founders. It has brought to our Republic a dynamism and effectiveness that other democracies have lacked.
We humans have a powerful instinct to flee from peril. It takes a special kind of courage, a deep sense of duty, and extraordinary character to overcome these impulses and - for the sake of others - to run toward the danger.
I think of the various forms of anti-Semitism as very much like different kinds of cancer. A healthy body with a strong immune system can have success in preventing cancers from emerging and spreading. But if the immune system weakens cancer can emerge. Some might be localized. But others can rapidly metastasize and become systematic.
Like a physical body, a body politic must have an immune system that resists anti-Semitism and other forums of hatred.
If you destroy the presidency and make it an errand boy for Congress, we're going to be a much weaker and more divided nation.
We want to have markets that are self-policing through competition. The Internet community doesn't want the government coming in and regulating it.
Everyone dies, and I am not, you know, I don't believe in the Homeric idea that, you know, immortality comes by, you know, having odes sung about you over the centuries, you know?