The law also plainly states that agency heads must collaborate with the national archivist to “initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records the head of the Federal agency knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from that agency.” And if the agency itself will not act, it is incumbent upon the archivist to personally “request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.”

Since neither Mr. Kerry nor Mr. Ferriero has abided by the law, the federal courts must now compel them to do so. And if the D.C. District Court will not do that, it should still rule on whether Mrs. Clinton illegally removed federal records from the government’s control.