Confirm William Barr as attorney general

There are times for Democrats to confront President Donald Trump and times not to.

The nomination of William Barr to be attorney general, pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee, is an example of the latter.

Whatever problems Democrats have with Barr's expansive views of presidential authority and lock-'em-up views of criminal enforcement, the bottom line is that he is as good a nominee as this administration is likely to put forward and would be a vast improvement over the acting attorney general.

In the main, Barr is an experienced, responsible law enforcement professional with an impressive résumé and a healthy respect for the people looking into the potential misdeeds of President Donald Trump and his election campaign.  

During his confirmation hearings, Barr went out of his way to praise special counsel Robert Mueller, making abundantly clear that Mueller's investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election is not the “witch hunt” that Trump has called it. Barr said he would resign rather than carry out a presidential order to fire Mueller without good cause. The nominee, furthermore, expressed his strong opinion that the Mueller report should be made public as much as possible, consistent with department regulations.