For years, conservatives have been railing against the growth of the “administrative state,” a mass of faceless and unaccountable bureaucrats allegedly holding tyrannical power over ordinary citizens. Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and the launch of several investigations of his administration, this complaint has morphed into even sharper attacks on America’s so-called “deep state”: unelected officials who are supposedly partisan Democrats ready to do anything to undermine the Trump presidency. Such charges were hurled against the civil servants called to testify in the House’s impeachment hearings, including...