‘Do the right thing’: Mitch McConnell, Alabama, and the Jason Kander rule

It’s unclear just how much Alabama and the Senate’s Republican leadership can drag their feet to delay actually seating Senator-elect Doug Jones (D-AL) after his victory in Tuesday’s special election. But if Republican lawmakers try to force through the tax cut bill without letting Jones have a say, they will be diverging from a tradition of respecting the results of elections — and their own rhetoric after Republican victories in special elections.

Jason Kan...