The Roger Stone sentencing uproar is deeply important, and not because it’s another Trump “scandal.” Rather, it’s a clash that was always coming—the moment at which an ungoverned bureaucracy smacked up against Attorney General William Barr’s promise to restore equal justice and accountability at the Justice Department.

Democrats and the media are in a tizzy over the department leadership’s Tuesday decision to file a sentencing memo calling for Mr. Stone to receive a shorter prison sentence than four line prosecutors originally...