So, John Bolton has now joined the “Indicted Former Officials Club.” The federal government dropped an 18-count indictment on him this week for allegedly mishandling classified documents. That’s eight counts of allegedly sharing defense secrets and ten counts of holding onto them like they were baseball cards.

Now before anyone starts yelling “witch hunt” or “deep state,” let’s take a breath. The Justice Department has brought similar cases against people on both sides of the aisle. If our standard is “no one’s above the law,” then that has to mean no one: not the left’s favorites, not President Trump’s critics, and not his allies either.

Proverbs 11:1 says, “A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.” That’s as true for Washington as it was for ancient Israel. Justice shouldn’t depend on whether the accused has an (R) or a (D) after their name, or how the media happens to feel about them this election cycle.

If Bolton really did mishandle national security secrets, then he should answer for that. The rules on classified material exist to protect the country, not to be used selectively depending on whose ox is being gored.

And if he’s innocent — if this is an overreach, a political hit, or a bureaucratic misunderstanding — then he deserves to be cleared just as publicly as he’s been accused. The presumption of innocence is not an optional feature of democracy.

We’ve seen this movie before. From Hillary Clinton’s private email server to Biden’s garage boxes to accusations aimed at President Trump and now Bolton, Washington has a chronic problem with people who think the rules are for “other people.” The rest of us would lose our jobs — or worse — if we handled classified material the way some of these elites allegedly have.

That’s not a partisan issue; that’s a cultural one. Too many folks in D.C. live as though accountability stops at the Potomac. It’s high time we restored a sense that national security is a sacred trust, not an inconvenience to be worked around.

The irony here is thicker than Bolton’s mustache. Here’s a man who spent years criticizing President Trump — sometimes loudly — now finding himself under a Justice Department run by Trump’s administration. Is this indictment politically motivated or just coincidental?

I don’t cheer for indictments. I cheer for integrity. If Bolton broke the law, he should face the consequences. If he didn’t, let him be vindicated. Either way, the principle remains: justice must not be weaponized, nor can it be ignored.

As believers, we’re reminded in Micah 6:8, “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” That’s good advice for politicians, prosecutors, and the rest of us alike.

Because if justice ever depends on who you voted for, then it’s not really justice anymore.