No, There Shouldn’t Be a Special Counsel for Pence

The Washington chatter about whether there should be a special counsel appointed to probe former vice president Mike Pence’s unlawful retention of classified intelligence is understandable. But not because there is any basis for such an appointment. The problem is that Attorney General Merrick Garland politicized the special-counsel process by appointing one for Trump on a false premise. It is that pretext, not the special-counsel regulations, that is driving the question of whether consistency now requires appointing one for Pence.

The silliness should stop. When you’ve dug yourself a hole, it’s better to stop digging — making the first error does not oblige Garland to make the second one.