No one is surprised that the Obama administration and many in the news media are doing their best to protect Hillary Clinton from the developing email scandal.

But where are the Republicans? While Donald Trump has been outspoken on the issue, Republicans in Congress have mostly been silent.

Many of the facts of the email scandal are now clearly known. Hillary Clinton used her private email server to evade the Freedom of Information Act. She put sensitive, classified information at risk of interception by hostile governments and even terrorists. She is the only Secretary of State who refused to use, even occasionally, the secure, government-provided email account for her work. When caught, she used her own employees to determine which emails would be turned over to the State Department.

While Clinton was Secretary of State, in 2011, the State Department actually warned its employees that they should not use private email for State Department business. Mrs. Clinton admits that she was personally familiar with the rules. “So I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material”, she said in her March 2015 news conference. However, a review of her emails by the State Department found more than two thousand that were classified, including twenty-two now marked Top Secret. She knew the rules, yet she ignored them.

Politifact interviewed two experts regarding Clinton’s claim that there was nothing wrong with her use of a private server. Daniel Metcalfe, formerly the Justice Department official in charge of implementing the Freedom of Information Act, said that “Using a personal email account exclusively is a potent prescription for flouting the Federal Records Act and circumventing the Freedom of Information Act.” Douglas Cox, a law professor specializing in records preservation, declared that “the argument that Clinton complied with the letter and spirit of the law is unsustainable”.

Now, the FBI is conducting an investigation to determine if there is a criminal case to be made. Clinton’s closest aides are being questioned. One has been given immunity. And, of course, more emails have “disappeared”.

Few expect the Justice Department to take any action against Clinton, regardless of what the FBI discovers. President Obama has downplayed the significance of Clinton’s actions, clearly signaling that she is not to be held accountable. In a land of equal justice, the Clintons are once again above the law.

That leaves it up to the Republicans in Congress. They cannot prosecute Clinton, but they can require Attorney General Loretta Lynch to choose between doing her duty or suffering the consequences. The Attorney General is impeachable under Article II, Section 4 of the US Constitution. Failure to enforce the law, especially when done for blatantly partisan reasons, should subject Lynch to impeachment. Politically correct Republicans will insist that a black woman should be immune from any punishment, no matter what the offense. Justice demands that the House do its constitutional duty.

Congressional Republicans must end their silence. They should let it be known that if the FBI investigation does not lead to prosecutions, they will hold hearings to put the evidence on the public record and determine whether the House should proceed to the impeachment of Attorney General Lynch.

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