Attorney General William Barr’s defense of his client, President Trump, declared an MSNBC commentator yesterday, will dishearten the career lawyers at the Department of Justice.

And, I said to myself, any American who cherishes the rule of law – lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

That struck home with me especially because I visited the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston this past weekend.

One exhibit recreated Robert F. Kennedy’s office as Attorney General, including a console phone with some twenty buttons with names for direct dialing to RFK’s top aides on such issues as school integration, the Freedom Riders, and labor corruption.

There was also a button marked Hoover.

No doubt RFK had conversations on that line with the FBI Director about the bugging of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nonetheless, the lawyers who worked for RFK would be equally upset by Barr’s performance today. They set the standard.

So will the historians who analyze the service of Kennedy and Barr as our nation’s leading attorney.