If anything, Ms. Bondi’s resume most closely resembles that of Janet Reno, who served as prosecutor for Miami-Dade County (then called Dade County) for 15 years before serving as U.S. attorney general from 1993 to 2001. This is not so suggest that Ms. Bondi is the next Ms. Reno. During her tenure, Ms. Reno emerged as the most independent attorney general in modern times, often to the dismay of the president who appointed her, Bill Clinton, and the power structure in Washington, D.C

Ms. Bondi has a long history of fierce loyalty to Mr. Trump. She represented him at his first impeachment trial in 2020. And she has long supported him politically; In a speech to the Republican National Convention in 2016, she gushed about Mr. Trump, and when the crowd began chanting “Lock her up” about Hillary Clinton, she said, “I love that.”

In 2013, Ms. Bondi requested a $25,000 donation from Mr. Trump’s foundation to a political action committee that supported her political prospects. Around the same time, as Florida’s attorney general, she decided not to launch a formal investigation into Trump University, which had drawn several complaints from Ms. Bondi’s constituents.

Ms. Bondi’s past relationship with Mr. Trump is relevant but neither disqualifying nor historically unusual. Before his confirmation as U.S. Attorney General in 2005, Alberto Gonzales served as a White House adviser and counsel to George W. Bush. Edwin Meese worked for Ronald Reagan before becoming attorney general in 1985. Jimmy Carter nominated his childhood friend Griffin Bell for the top job at the Justice Department. John F. Kennedy appointed his own brother.

But more than previous presidents, Mr. Trump has made it clear that he expects unwavering commitment from his candidates. And the attorney general, more than other Cabinet members, must maintain intermittent independence from the president, particularly when it comes to decisions about criminal charges. So the question is whether Ms. Bondi can do that as attorney general, despite her previous work with and around Mr. Trump, or whether she will heed his worst instincts.