Barr says reducing police immunity would result in law enforcement 'pulling back'

Attorney General William Barr said Sunday he doesn't believe limiting qualified immunity to go after "bad cops" is a proper solution to issues within United States law enforcement agencies, despite demands from those protesting against police brutality. Barr told CBS's Margaret Brennan that doing so would result in "police pulling back."

Barr, who played a key role in ordering the violent suppression of demonstrations outside the White House last week, acknowledged there are "instances" of poor policing, but he ultimately thinks "policing is the toughest job in the country" and most officers are "civic-minded people who believe in the public" and do so "bravely" and "righteously." He said he wants people to be careful about labeling all law enforcement "rotten" when their ire should be targeted at individual officers.

Barr also said he believes "racism" is an issue in the United States today, but doesn't think law enforcement is "systemically racist." He did, however, contend that, for much of the country's history, U.S. institutions were "explicitly" racist and have improved since the 1960s. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.