Sometimes relentless political pressure can make something good happen in Washington. It did last week, when a ruling by the Bureau of Indian Affairs spared Connecticut the prospect of three more Indian tribes of questionable authenticity. The tribes, in turn, would have sought to build casinos, of which the state has enough, or to file land claims, putting thousands of homeowners or businesses at risk.

For a few years, the BIA has been busy trying to streamline the federal tribal recognition process, which has been criticized for being slow and cumbersome. But in the course of doing this, the agency also appeared to be making the standards for recognition much less rigorous. For example, a draft copy of the new rules would have expedited recognition for tribes that had state reservations since 1934. This is illogical; having a state reservation doesn't mean there's been a tribal community continuously living on it. The draft would also have given tribes whose applications had been rejected another chance to apply.

Had these rules passed, the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation of North Stonington, the Golden Hill Paugussett Nation of Bridgeport, and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of Kent, tribes that have thus far failed to meet federal criteria, would likely have won recognition and all that implies.