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Donald Trump’s Department of Justice quietly caved in one of its biggest brawls with the federal judiciary on Monday, conceding district courts’ authority to appoint U.S. attorneys after a series of stinging legal defeats. In a filing, the Justice Department accepted a court’s appointment of Robert Frazer as head of New Jersey’s U.S. attorney’s office, an abrupt reversal of its assertion that courts have no such power. Its capitulation ended an eight-month standoff during which New Jersey lacked a lawfully serving U.S. attorney after the DOJ refused to replace Alina Habba with a legitimate successor. This (entirely avoidable) leadership vacuum jeopardized myriad criminal indictments and unleashed a wave of chaos that culminated in a federal judge throwing one prosecutor out of his courtroom last week.

The practical consequences of the Justice Department’s surrender are immense. But the deeper implications for the Trump administration’s self-proclaimed “war” against judges are just as important. For the first time, it accepted the federal judiciary’s constitutional prerogative to appoint U.S. attorneys as prescribed by Congress, retreating from its earlier position that only the president can name top prosecutors. This white flag marks the Trump administration’s biggest step back from its maximalist vision of a “unitary executive” who holds total control over his entire branch. It is a begrudging admission that the other two branches of government can still restrain the presidency—proof that the separation of powers is more resilient than Trump had anticipated.

The Supreme Court........

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