Was Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, careless with classified information that could bring harm to intelligence sources or otherwise benefit U.S. adversaries, or is she being slammed by her partisan opponents over action that was not criminal and may have simply reflected a lapse in judgment? The fog was only deepened by the recent announcement that “top secret” information was found in seven email chains, covering 22 documents totaling 37 pages, in the State Department’s review of her emails for release. Since the “top secret” information will remain hidden, it is hard to know what to make of it.

As we’ve said before, Clinton should not have stored her official business on a private computer server based in her home. It was faulty thinking, perhaps borne of her desire to keep control over the communications and long experience in the political trenches. We think it would be wrong to prejudge or interfere with this investigation. But voters deserve to know as soon as possible whether this was a lapse of judgment or something worse. They deserve to be told whether there is any reason to suspect criminal behavior. In the name of fairness, we urge FBI Director James B. Comey to do everything possible to answer the questions sooner rather than later.