The deployment of federal agents on the streets during civil unrest, the use of chemical agents, federal civil rights charges against local police, and an attorney general in the FBI command post — William Barr has seen it all before. During his previous tenure as attorney general, he was in the thick of it.

On April 29, 1992, in the middle of his first tour as attorney general, the Rodney King protests erupted in Los Angeles. The spark that set off these disturbances was the acquittal, in local court, of police officers who had been videotaped beating King.