Attorney General William Barr claimed that, "other than slavery," calls for a national lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic were "the greatest intrusion on civil liberties."
Barr spoke Wednesday as part of a Hillsdale College event recognizing Constitution Day, making several comments about the constitutional implications of coronavirus-related lockdowns.
WATCH:
"You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest," Barr explained.
"Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history."Barr also accused state and local leaders, many of whom had imposed such
lockdowns, of treating their citizens like children who were incapable of making informed decisions for themselves.
"Most of the governors do what bureaucrats always do, which is they ... defy common sense. They treat free citizens as babies that can't take responsibility for themselves and others," Barr continued, adding,
"We have to give business people an opportunity, tell them what the rules are ... and then let them try to adapt their business to that and you'll have ingenuity and people will at least have the freedom to try to earn a living."Barr also raised eyebrows with several other comments from that same event, criticizing prosecutors for "
political headhunting" and arguing that
protesters used Black Americans shot by police as props to push an agenda.WATCH:
Comment: Barr used a bit of bombast to make a very legitimate and needed point; the lockdowns have been an absolutely egregious policy that itself has ruined the health and the economic lifeblood of over half the country - with much more fallout to come. But don't expect all the orange man-haters
to see it that way:
Once his comments were shared more widely, few found legitimacy in the comparison.
"Bill Barr equates quarantine with chattel slavery as one of the greatest intrusions of civil liberties in American history. Statements like these make you realize many in this country know nothing about what it truly means to be oppressed," 'The View' co-host Sunny Hostin tweeted in reaction to the comment. Another person criticized the remarks by simply saying, "What a disgrace."
"The thing about Bill Barr's comments is that he knows better. Which is what makes them a whole lot worse," CNN political correspondent Abby D. Pillip added.
"How about WW2 Japanese Internment camps? Jim Crow laws? segregation? Tuskegee Syphilis experiments?" another commenter tweeted, while Star Trek actor George Takei posted: "As someone who spent four years in U.S. internment camps during World War II, I think Bill Barr is full of horse manure."
Barr's comments also angered lockdown supporters, but he earned a round of applause at the DC event after making them.
Some conservatives, many of whom have been critical of local governments' response to the pandemic, also showed support for Barr amidst a pushback against his coronavirus comments and other actions as attorney general.
Since there was never any national lockdown in place, but rather various stay-at-home orders and business shutdown mandates - which still continue in certain areas in most states - Barr chided governors for acting like "bureaucrats" and treating "free citizens as babies that can't take responsibility for themselves and others."
R.C.