Has anyone ever suggested making the Attorney General independent of the White House?

[Poiuyt]

If justice is to be truly blind, the AG should not be a cabinet position.

I guess no one ever anticipated the level of corruption that this administration is binging.

[leftieNanner]

1. Good Idea

I recall how careful Barack Obama and Eric Holder were to keep the White House and DOJ separate.

Geez.

[unc70]

2. We have see AG corruption before

Remember John Mitchell

[CaptYossarian]

4. He did time, just like Barr should.

[empedocles]

6. barr should do serious time

[CaptYossarian]

9. With Trump's enormous crime ring, they could fill Leavenworth.

That includes Putin, the Russian Mafia, the money laundering banks, and all the oligarchs. We can separate the family for good measure.

[empedocles]

11. With an occasional treason conviction; fill many Leavenworths

[Poiuyt]

7. Mitchell did time for what he did as Chairman to Reelect the President

But your point is well taken

[Wounded Bear]

3. That's one of those "norms" that is getting shredded by Trump...

It has been the custom that the WH is hands off when it comes to DoJ.

Obviously, that has changed.

[X_Digger]

5. Well, no, we don't need a fourth branch of government.

The legislative branch creates the laws.

The executive branch enforces the laws.

The judiciary branch adjudicates the laws.

Where would this magic AG sit? In the judiciary? So the Judiciary would have the ability to both enforce and adjudicate the law? That wouldn't end well.

[Red Mountain]

8. The AG tips the scale

No matter what branch it's attached to.

Tough one.

[TomSlick]

17. I take your point but

it is not unusual on the state level for the Attorney General to be independently elected. (I haven't done the research to say it's the norm.)

The next question would be how U.S. Attorneys would be selected. If the AG is independent of the executive branch, the logical answer would seem to be that the U.S. Attorneys would either be appointed by the AG - subject to Senate approval - or themselves popularly elected within the U.S. judicial district.

Of course, any of this would require a constitutional amendment, which would be a really hard slog.

[SmartVoter22]

10. Appointed by Congress with 67% of both houses?

That might work, but we certainly need to address limits of POTUS and the Executive branch.
The Senate alone is no longer a viable or credible means to approve appointments.
Nominations by state Bar Associations.

[StarfishSaver]

12. That would make the AG part of the legislative branch

[SmartVoter22]

20. Only the nomination and confirmation processes

It would not be administered by Congress. Only the nomination ( qualification and peer recommendation from state bars) and the approval (forcing bipartisan approval with 67% of both houses). Once approved, the AG would be under Judiciary Administrative Rules.
We can setup rules for any branch, if we choose to. How is this done now? via SCOTUS as they do with Federal Courts?

[StarfishSaver]

22. Outside, private organizations have never had the power to nominate people to government positions

And they shouldn't.

Who would the AG report to? Whose policies would they follow? Who would discipline/fire them if they didn't perform well or got out of line? The state bar association? How would that work? State bar associations are private organizations, run by all kinds of people unaccountable to anyone but their membership.

Operating under the rules that apply to the judiciary would not only make them part of the Judicial branch, but would also create a whole new range of problems and issues since those rules apply to the operation of the courts, not to prosecutors.

Sorry, but this wouldn't work.

Out system has always worked well until it fell into the hands of corrupt people. That can happen to any system, regardless how near-perfect. If the system you suggest was administered by corrupt people, it would also fail.

The answer to this problem is not to dismantle the current system but to take responsibility and take action to change the people we put in charge of it.

[SCantiGOP]

13. Most states elect the AG

I had a PoliSci professor in college who advocated a constitutional amendment to require that the US AG be elected.
What has happened today would have been the strongest support for his proposal that I can imagine.

[a kennedy]

14. Ha ha, silly me I THOUGHT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.

[zipplewrath]

15. The founders

It was argued for a long time when the constitution was being written. Many wanted the AG to be a nationally elected office. But they realized that if they were of different parties, the AG would have the power to do little but harass the president. There aren't alot of good solutions to this. The God's honest truth is the EC was supposed to prevent all of this from happening. They really are what failed us.

[Poiuyt]

18. The founders also expected officials to act in the best interests of the country

They would be shocked to see what is going on right now.

[zipplewrath]

19. Yes.

As I said, the EC was supposed to prevent this crap. It failed. The Senate was supposed to prevent this crap. It failed. 51% of the Senate is controlled by 30% of the country. This cannot long last.

[randr]

16. Once upon a time in America that was assumed to be the norm

Back when America was great.

[Buckeyeblue]

21. It typically works ok the way it is

Right now we have a very extreme president and AG. Neither seem to be concerned about the consequences once they are no longer in their respective positions. In some ways that's what concerns me the most.

I also think the House needs to take a tougher approach to Barr.