A quote says a lot about justice

Anytime a Cabinet-level agency gets new leadership, changes in operating philosophies and priorities are expected -- especially when voters decide to put a different party in control of the White House.

The Department of Justice certainly got a new direction when Eric Holder became the Obama administration's attorney general. An agency that for seven years was instrumental in prosecuting the war on terror quickly adopted Mr. Holder's focus on "social justice" -- seeking equality of outcomes instead of equality of opportunity or equal application of the law. He said the United States was a "nation of cowards" on matters of race, and that the Justice Department was obligated to confront the resulting injustices.

No decision has captured that change as much as Mr. Holder's makeover of the Department of Justice website, completed last year. The rippled American flag that once topped the home page was replaced with a quotation: "The common law is the will of mankind issuing from the life of the people."

Some folks might find the quote inspiring. But the messenger matters as much as the message. And that particular quote comes from C. Wilfred Jenks, who, according to The American Spectator, "back in the late 1930s and after World War II was a leading figure in the 'international law' movement, which sought to impose a global, common law, and advocated for global workers rights." Mr. Jenks, who was British, is widely credited with helping to build the United Nations' overwhelming culture of appeasement toward socialist and communist nations.

"Suggestions to highlight quotes from the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights or quotes from the Founders, the Federalist Papers or prominent American jurists were quickly shot down by the Department of Justice's media and new media teams, according to DOJ sources familiar with the design process, and the White House communications shop was given input to the overall design as well," the Spectator reported.

So instead of paying tribute to this country's rich tradition of freedom, Mr. Holder makes sure visitors to his department's website first see the wisdom of a foreign, uber-left sympathizer? That's a troubling perspective on justice.