Democrats have abused the DOJ and federal authority to maintain secret investigations of their political enemies for too long. And AG Garland’s on keeping the affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago raid secret proved too much even for his friendly judge.

Judge Reinhardt agreed to unseal portions of the affidavit. But Biden’s DOJ is warning that they’ll redact whatever is released into meaningless gibberish.

Jay Bratt, who spoke to the judge on behalf of the government, cautioned that so much of the affidavit will need to be redacted, only gibberish will remain.

“It really serves no purpose,” the attorney said. “It does not edify the public in any meaningful way.”

Which is by design.

Tobin countered that it isn’t up to the government to decide what is and is not of interest to the general public.

Isn’t that the whole premise of the war on “disinformation”?

Bratt argued that “amateur sleuths on the internet” may be able to figure out the names of people referenced in the affidavit, putting their safety at risk and potentially dissuading future witnesses from cooperating with the investigation.

He also said that releasing a redacted version sets a difficult precedent for the government to uphold. It’ll take time and resources to make those redactions, he said — resources pulled away from the actual investigation.

Expecting us to take time out to censor information about our political hit job will take away resources from our political hit job

The lawyers representing the media reminded Reinhart time and again over the course of the hearing that the judge is “the gatekeeper” between the government and the public. Any proposed redactions must be looked at critically, Tobin said.

So expect this to drag on.

The government will file its proposed redactions on Aug. 25. If the judge finds them satisfactory, he’ll issue an order to move forward with the redactions. If he doesn’t, he’ll either hold another hearing with the government or issue his own proposed redactions, Reinhart said.

If there’s disagreement between the government and Reinhart, “obviously I win,” the judge said.

The people in the courtroom, mostly journalists, laughed. None were allowed to leave the courtroom until the hearing was over, and bailiffs imposed a strict rule preventing reporters from breaking news about the proceedings while the court was in session.

The people mustn’t be told about the proceedings involving their own right to choose their representatives until a redacted explanation is dispensed by a partisan judge.

This is the democracy that Democrats are fighting for.