Republican Thom Tillis, one of North Carolina’s two U.S. senators, has rightly joined Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware in a bill that would back independent investigations by allowing judicial review if a special counsel is fired by a president — and reinstatement if judges find the firing was unjustified.
 
With President Trump having hinted at the possibility of firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel on the probe into Russian tampering with the 2016 presidential election, this bill, the Special Counsel Integrity Act, is timely, as is another bipartisan bill that also would inhibit any attempt to fire Mueller. And the efforts may just be working: Sunday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump is not discussing firing Mueller.
 
That’s good. But don’t blame us if Trump has fired Mueller by the time you read these words.
 
We live in volatile times.
 
Fortunately, the judicial system, the press and, gradually, Congress, are responding appropriately to these times. Our state’s other senator, Republican Richard Burr of Winston-Salem, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is pushing for the facts about the Russian involvement in the election, working smoothly with vice chairman Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat.
 
Regarding the special counsel bill, Tillis’ office said in a press release, “The legislation codifies existing Department of Justice regulations so that a special counsel appointed by the department may only be removed for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, like a violation of departmental policies.”
 
A similar bill, also bipartisan, was filed by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
 
The efforts could come together in a single bill when senators return from their break. Let’s hope Trump doesn’t fire Mueller by then. We suspect that he realizes that if he does, he’ll have an awakening Congress with which to reckon.

Read the editorial here.

###