Thinking through the scenarios for the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest Barr

[StarfishSaver]

1. Show up at DOJ headquarters and demand admittance so they can go in and take the Attorney General into custody?

Mmm. Naw. That probably won't work. I've been there. It's a fortress.

2. Show up at Barr's house, knock on the door and when he opens it, tell him he's under arrest, ask him to turn around so they can cuff him, then put him in the squad car and take him away.?

Prolly not. His 24-7 security detail isn't likely to let folks just walk up and knock on his door.

3. Grab him on the street?

Nope. See #2

My fantasy scenario. The men and women on Barr's security detail are so sick and tired of being maligned and attacked by this criminal cabal, they willingly stand down and allow Barr to be arrested because, after all, they're sworn to protect his life and safety and being arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms poses no threat to either.

A girl can dream, can't she?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Why not shoot him with one of those tranquilizing darts biologists use

to sedate other large, angry mammals? Then just drop a net over him and haul him away to be weighed, vaccinated and jailed for contempt.

[IADEMO2004]

2. 4 a.m. swat team. Barr perp walk in underwear

[Eyeball_Kid]

4. Now you're talking! n/t

[MineralMan]

5. Nope. I have it on good authority that Barr wears Spiderman Jammies.

[IADEMO2004]

8. Never tell me how you know this

[MineralMan]

9. I have the best sources. Tremendous sources!

[CaptainTruth]

18. I really like this method. Install a radio collar too, so we can track his location.

But I draw the line at studying his mating habits.

[MineralMan]

3. There isn't going to be an arrest.

I'm sure you realize that, but I wanted to say it, anyhow.

[Snake Plissken]

6. All I pictures is Democrats wimping out again

The entire country is watching these criminals have no regard for our laws and all we we've seen Congress do about it so far is ... absolutely nothing.

[StarfishSaver]

7. What do YOU think the Democrats should do to enforce the contempt citation

that would not fit your definition of "wimping out"?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. They're not using the inherent contempt process,

which would allow the Sargeant at Arms to arrest him, but which hasn't been done since the '30s. Instead, they're voting to issue a contempt citation, which is a referral to the DoJ, and we know who's in charge of that. Maybe when Barr, as head of the DoJ, refuses to hold himself in contempt, they'll go for inherent contempt.

[StarfishSaver]

12. They haven't even gotten to that point yet

The "inherent contempt process" is a PROCESS and they're only at the first step of it. The arrest you are so eager to happen can only occur further down the line after they go through certain other legal requirements.

That said, how do you propose this arrest you're calling for be effectuated when the time comes? As my OP notes, it's not as simple as the Sergeant-at-Arms walking up to Barr with a couple of Capitol Police Officers and declaring "Put 'em up - You're under arrest!"

How exactly do you believe this arrest would be carried out in the real world?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Exactly. It's fun to imagine Barr doing the perp walk, but

it's not going to happen even if they complete the contempt process. The reason for doing it, I think, is to make the point that Barr isn't the boss of Congress.

[MineralMan]

10. It's a process. Everything having to do with government has a process.

This will all end up in the federal courts, and processes will matter a great deal.

I know it's really exciting to think about Barr being perp-walked, but that's not part of this particular process. Finding Barr in contempt is just one more nail in the administrations legal coffin.

[EffieBlack]

19. Lots of folk here seem to think we should just ignore process to get what we want

I guess we could do that ... but then we’d be Republicans ...

[MineralMan]

20. Well, there's a lot of impatience out there. I understand that.

Learning the details of government processes isn't easy. Being angry about Trump is easy. So, people are speaking from their anger, without considering the practical aspects of the situation.

Congress is all about process. Too much about process sometimes. But, there it is. Government is about process. It can't function without that, due to the complicated nature of all this.

We can try to explain, but impatience doesn't listen to explanations. Impatience wants action and it wants it right now!

[StarfishSaver]

21. This has been my great frustration here

Some people seem to just want to stick to their notions and vent, even though they often don't know how any of this works - and when someone who does know how it works tries to explain it, they just dig in deeper.

This imperviousness to information actually sometimes seems to be a troubling mirror image of the other side, but we don't realize it or are willing to tolerate it because we're on the same team.

[onenote]

14. Enjoy your fantasy. But he's not going to be arrested by the Sgt at Arms.

You can take that to the bank.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Yes, but isn't it fun to think about?

But really, it's all just separation of powers Kabuki theatre.

[standingtall]

16. Would seem to me if the Sergeant at arms were to be sent to arrest Barr

and his security detail were to block it. They would be following an unlawful order and should be subject to arrest themselves.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Maybe, but it isn't going to happen anyhow.