It was clear a long time ago that there would be no room for professionals in the Trump administration.
America will need for its professionals to honor their ethical obligations as never before in a Trump administration — and the way to do that is for them to do what the engineers in Flint had a clear ethical obligation to do: Refuse to go along.
Now, rather than passively submit to clear presidential pressure to go easy on a crony — Roger Stone, convicted of witness tampering and lying to Congress — four Department of Justice lawyers have resigned the case; one left the department outright.
On Tuesday, the four main federal prosecutors working on the obstruction and perjury case of Roger J. Stone Jr. shared another distinction: they quit the case. The abrupt withdrawals came after the Justice Department overruled their recommendation for a stiffer sentence for Mr. Stone, a longtime friend and informal adviser of President Trump. One of the prosecutors resigned outright.
Good for them. It should not even need to be said that the First Felon has no business insinuating himself into sentencing decisions, or that Barr should have firmly told Trump to butt-out rather than scurrying to please him.