United States Deputy Attorney General Arnold Burns and the assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal investigations division, William Weld, both submitted their resignations Tuesday, effective at the end of the day. Four aides will depart with them.

The ship is sinking, but the chief rat has yet to jump off.

Attorney General Edwin Meese, who is again under investigation—this time for his alleged involvement with the Wedtech Corp. scandal—is reportedly shocked by the resignations. The Reagan administration, on the other hand, has expressed no particular concern over this development.

Both men reportedly believe the department has come to a standstill as Meese has become more and more preoccupied with the investigation against him. Burns has essentially been running the Justice Department, while Meese spends the majority of his time meeting with his lawyers and testifying before a grand jury.

That President Reagan and his advisers can express no concern over such a situation is appalling. The Justice Department needs a leader who is above reproach—not to mention present. An absentee attorney general who spends most of his days trying to explain his involvement in one scandal after another is not an asset to the Justice Department or to the nation.

Meese has been one of the biggest liabilities of the Reagan administration, much to the glee of some of the president’s detractors, and much to the chagrin of those who believe the Justice Department should be the embodiment of its name.

Justice. On the one side, truth. On the other, the law. Ideally, in any given situation, the two balance out to produce the right, moral, just result.

It’s difficult to believe in an organization carrying the name “justice” when the man at the top appears not to believe in truth, and has been continually under suspicion of breaking the law almost from the day he was sworn in.

President Reagan is obviously not going to admit his colossal error in keeping Meese on board for so long. It is therefore up to the attorney general to take a hint and make the hard decision. To do the right, moral, just thing. To save this nation from further embarrassment and further damage to the ideals of justice. To resign.