Attorney General Garland, please stop digging

In addition, the department has strong and continuing institutional interests in defending the conduct of officials, up to and including the president, no matter who is president. The powers vested in the office are at stake. So when a federal official is sued, when a group demands access to internal documents, the reflexive response of any Justice Department, and of the nonpolitical career staff, is to resist. This is encoded in the department’s DNA.