In Yes Minister, Sir Humphrey Appleby once called responsibility without power the prerogative of the eunuch. Bill Essayli has achieved the opposite: power without responsibility, the prerogative of the Trump era. When a federal judge ruled that Essayli was serving illegally as Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor, you might have expected him to quietly clear out his desk. Instead, he smiled. “We’re actually quite relieved,” he said, as if judicial censure were a commendation. Because in the absurd machinery of Trump’s Department of Justice, losing your title doesn’t mean losing control. Essayli has been told he cannot call himself acting US attorney. But he can keep acting as one. The nameplate goes; the power stays. The ruling by Judge J. Michael Seabright, a George W. Bush a

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