Mark Paoletta, who is helping plan the Trump administration’s Justice Department staffing during the transition, repeated his belief that Trump has the right to direct the department to charge, or not charge, anybody he likes.

“The President has a duty to supervise the types of cases DOJ should focus on and can intervene to direct DOJ on specific cases,” Paoletta argues in a long social-media post. “He is the duly elected chief executive and he has every right to make sure the executive branch, including the DOJ, is implementing his agenda.”

After the Watergate scandal revealed that Richard Nixon had influenced the Justice Department to conceal the investigation into a burglary his administration committed to spy on Democrats, Congress implemented reforms to wall the department off from political influence.

The rationale for these reforms is obvious. Nixon’s abuses hinted at the potential for the department as a........

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