An Attorney General needs three basic qualities. She or he needs to be a leader. Someone who has the maturity, temperament and expertise to run the world’s foremost law enforcement agency, from preliminary investigation to complex litigation.

She or he needs to be respected. He needs to be respected by his vast workforce, which includes the agents of the FBI, ATF and DEA, Immigration Judges, U.S. Attorneys, subject-matter attorneys in all areas of federal law, Bureau of Prisons, and officers responsible for monitoring sex offenders and preventing Violence Against Women. He needs to be respected by the federal bench, before whom his Department will appear and argue its cases, if the interests of the United States are to be effectively prosecuted or defended. He needs to be respected by opposing parties and opposing counsel. This includes opposing parties who are foreign states and foreign nationals who may be subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

Finally, the Attorney General needs to have personal and professional integrity. Just like a Justice of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General must be beyond reproach in terms of integrity. There must be no trace of bias or personal interest in any of his words or actions. He must serve only the interests of the American people and their Constitution and laws.

Can we say, with a straight face, that the person whom President-elect Trump wants to be our next Attorney General possesses any of these three qualities?  Rarely has a negative answer to such a question been so embarrassingly obvious.