The Nov. 23 editorial “Presidents don’t prosecute” said, “The law enforcement system and the U.S. attorneys who investigate and prosecute federal crimes are supposed to be independent, free from interference by the White House or anyone else.” That independence exists solely as a matter of custom and not of law. The Justice Department is not an independent agency. The attorney general and all U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, who can remove any of them from office at any time without giving any reason. As the Supreme Court recognized decades ago, that creates a relationship of “here and now subservience” between each of those officers and the president. An attorney general can refuse to act in accordance with the wishes of the president but at the risk of being summarily removed from office.

Source: Washington Post November 28, 2016 00:04 UTC