WASHINGTON, June 14 -- The defining feature of Donald Trump's Justice Department has been that the man running it used to be the president's defense lawyer. Trump now wants to make that arrangement permanent. He has formally nominated Todd Blanche, the attorney who sat beside him through his Manhattan criminal trial, to serve as attorney general, the nation's chief law-enforcement officer. Blanche has already been doing the job in an acting capacity for months. The nomination simply asks the Senate to ratify a reality that is already in place: the Justice Department run, at the very top, by a member of the president's own legal team.

The path here has been quick and pointed. As CNN reported, Trump formally sent Blanche's nomination to th...