WASHINGTON WATCH : Judicious Retreat

The Bush Administration has wisely backed away from punitive and unwarranted rules it recently proposed, ending a divisive standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over nominations to the federal bench.

A record 128 judicial seats in federal courts around the country are empty. The White House has been exceedingly slow and ideologically rigid in forwarding nominations. Furious that someone associated with the committee allegedly leaked the sexual harassment charges that Prof. Anita Hill leveled against Judge Clarence Thomas in hearings on his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush tried to punish committee members by denying them direct access to FBI files on nominees. He insisted that senators see only White House-prepared summaries of the files. This requirement, and others, would have further slowed the confirmation process. Worse yet, the rules were unnecessary: In the last 12 years, the committee considered more than 1,500 nominations without any leaks of FBI information.

The committee found the rules such an intolerable interference with its constitutional duty to “advise and consent” on presidential nominations that it unanimously demanded their abrogation. The senators also hinted that the committee would not act on nominations pending before it.

Last week, the White House capitulated, agreeing to new rules that, with only the most minor of changes, reinstate the status quo ante. The committee was right to insist here; the White House was smart enough to admit it was wrong.