The Washington Post recently reported that a former top FBI official, Peter Strzok, who had previously been assigned to and then removed from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation, had “exchanged politically charged texts disparaging [President] Trump and supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton” and that Strzok was also “a key player in the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.”

This is a blockbuster revelation, carrying the possibility of shattering public confidence in a number of long-held assumptions about the criminal-justice system generally and the FBI and the Justice Department specifically. The Justice Department should appoint another special counsel to investigate Strzok’s actions as soon as possible.

A special counsel should conduct an inquiry, bring any necessary charges and make a report—and it should come from someone without ties to the president or his opponents. They do exist, such men and women.

Former federal judges make excellent candidates.