Conservative group faults Barr’s views on presidential powers

WASHINGTON — A group of conservative-leaning lawyers criticized Attorney General William Barr for the expansive view of presidential power he espoused in a recent speech and for his conclusion this spring that President Trump had not obstructed justice in the Russia investigation.

“In recent months, we have become concerned by the conduct of Attorney General William Barr,” the group, Checks & Balances, said in a statement that was shared with the New York Times.

Members of the group have sharply denounced what they described as abuses of power by Trump, who is facing a fast-moving impeachment inquiry. The speech by Barr, in which he argued that the president had never overstepped his authority, so alarmed them that they felt compelled to push back publicly.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

At a conference hosted by the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal group, Barr said in his speech that those who have sought to hem in Trump were denying the will of voters, subverting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law.

The president’s opponents “essentially see themselves as engaged in a war to cripple by any means necessary a duly elected government,” he said.

Checks & Balances is made up of Republican and conservative lawyers, including some who served in recent administrations. George Conway, one of Trump’s most vocal critics and the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, is one of the group’s most prominent members.

Barr’s view on executive power is a misreading of the unitary executive theory, said Charles Fried, a Checks & Balances member and Harvard Law professor who endorsed the theory while he was solicitor general during the Reagan administration. In Fried’s reading of the theory,...