Process demands that law enforcement must convince a judge that they have probable cause to believe a crime has been committed before a warrant is issued to search someone’s property. We have no doubt the FBI met that bar before they searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home Monday.

Politics, however, demands that the Department of Justice must justify the time, resources, and tactics used by the FBI when enforcing federal law. It is entirely unclear if the DOJ can defend the FBI’s unprecedented search of a former president’s home for what appears to be document retention malfeasance.