The editors conducting these columns are not, and have never been, big fans of the idea of an independent counsel. The law under which independent prosecutors operated against both Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington has long since – and mercifully – passed into oblivion. We haven’t questioned the integrity of any of the special prosecutors; our concerns are those voiced by Justice Scalia in his dissent in Morrison v. Olson, that the idea of an independent prosecutor pulverizes a stratum of American constitutional bedrock – separated powers.

It strikes us, nonetheless, as the worst of all worlds to have an independent prosecutor like David Barrett, who was assigned to investigate the case of President Clinton’s housing secretary, Henry Cisneros, work for 10 years and compile a vast report, only to have the report redacted – sanitized, if you will — before it is released to the American public. On page one today, our contributing editor, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., and our Washington correspondent, Brian McGuire, give an early account of what’s in the report, which sketches an effort by the Clinton administration to control or stifle the probe of its affairs.

Messrs. Tyrrell and McGuire write that sources are saying the Barrett report, which was completed in August of 2004 but has been kept under wraps since then, “does not appear to contain the bombshell evidence of a conspiracy directly involving President Clinton and his wife for which some conservatives had been hoping.” But they also note that its narrative could strengthen the hand of Republicans who fought unsuccessfully to have the full contents of the report released. It’s going to be something to see how the Democrats, who have been prepared to air our most sensitive defense secrets in the middle of a hot war, are going to fight to keep the full Barrett report from the public eye.

No doubt there are those who are going to say this all should be forgotten. But we are in the midst of a new era of scandal in our politics. Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty, and investigators are studying the way he spread his lucre to many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. The erstwhile majority leader in the House, Tom Delay, is in the dock for money laundering. A one-time war hero turned congressman, Duke Cunningham, has turned out to be a felon. Senator Clinton is preparing to run for re-election and, following that, the presidency. This is no time to start redacting a report that provides a glimpse into the conduct of the executive branch the last time it was in the hands of the Democrats.