Industry Attorneys Weigh In on Trump's New AG Pick -- William Barr (XBIZ)
Read the full article by Rhett Pardon at XBIZ.com
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday chose William Barr as his next attorney general.
Barr, who spent two years from 1991 through 1993 as attorney general under Republican President George H.W. Bush, would succeed acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker if confirmed. Whitaker took over the job for Jeff Sessions, who was pushed out by Trump.
This afternoon, XBIZ checked in with a number of adult industry attorneys to learn their opinions on what to expect of Barr, if he is confirmed, to the top-cop spot. Here’s what they had to say:
Lawrence Walters
William Barr was the attorney general under the Bush 41 presidency and was active in pursuing obscenity prosecutions during that time. His priorities may be different this time; however, old habits die slow.
Clyde DeWitt
I suppose what everyone is concerned about is the fact that General Barr’s tenure was during the last year or so of the Bush 41 administration, which was the last year or so of the federal obscenity prosecutions that started with the Meese Commission and for the most part ended when Bill Clinton assumed office. But that was over a quarter of a century ago.
Corey D. Silverstein
Same song different channel. The attorney general may be new but Trump himself has shown no interest in obscenity prosecutions. I suspect that the attorney general will have his hands full with the current chaos of internal investigations, international meddling, FBI probes and more.
J.D. Obenberger
The odds have just incrementally risen that another effort, bipartisan initiative to insulate kids from hard core pornography, will emerge if Mr. Barr takes charge at Justice. It's an issue he was vitally concerned with last time. There's no real reason to predict any renewed interest in general obscenity prosecution, and I don't think it's likely under President Trump no matter who serves as his AG. But no one should be surprised if there will be new congressional attempts to keep children and hardcore apart in the U.S. that get written by a Barr team at DOJ.