A smart move:

President Bush stepped into the Justice Department's constitutional confrontation with Congress on Thursday and ordered that documents seized in an FBI raid on a congressman's office be sealed for 45 days.

The president directed that no one involved in the investigation have access to the documents under seal and that they remain in the custody of the solicitor general.

Bush's move was described as an attempt to reach a cooling off period in a heated confrontation between his administration and leaders of the House and Senate.

"This period will provide both parties more time to resolve the issues in a way that ensures that materials relevant to the ongoing criminal investigation are made available to prosecutors in a manner that respects the interests of a coequal branch of government," Bush said.

In a statement, Bush said he recognized that Republican and Democratic leaders in the House had "deeply held views" that the search on Rep. William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office violated the Constitution's separation of powers principles. But he stopped short of saying he agreed with them.

This should help to reduce the acute congressional anger - at least temporarily - that has erupted on a bipartisan basis since the FBI raid of William Jefferson's office last Saturday. The last thing the president needs at this critical juncture is an immediate constitutional confrontation with a House under the control of his own party.

Meanwhile, Speaker Dennis Hastert is outraged (and threatening to sue) by an ABC News report lastnight that he is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly being criminally involved in the Jack Abromoff influence peddling scandal. An unnamed Justice Department official, according to ABC News, indicated that Hastert is "in the mix." Hastert said today he believes this is likely in retaliation for Hastert's objection, along with Democratic House leaders, to the raid on Jefferson's office.

Whether retaliation or not, it is highly (too highly) coincidental that the Justice Department would be leaking information on Hastert to ABC News the very same evening that Hastert had displayed outrage about the FBI Jefferson raid. This raises even more questions about the raid itself, and begs for congressional hearings into the matter.

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In scanning some conservative blogs out there, it is apparent that many are irritated with Republicans for creating such a stir over the FBI raid of Jefferson's office, and some are also peeved with the President's decision today to temporarily seal the documents seized. They would like to see maximum political hay made over the alleged criminal actions of Jefferson. This is understandable, particularly in an election year when Republicans are in political peril, largely due to their own preventable mistakes. But they are mistaken. The FBI raid of a congressman's office, whether he or she is a Democrat or Republican, is intolerable except in the most extreme circumstances. If Bill Clinton's Justice Department under Janet Reno had done the same thing to a Republican House member, Republicans would be screaming bloody murder, and then some, regardless of the alleged actions of the congressman. It is simply beyond the pale for the Justice Department to authorize the kind of raid it did last Saturday on a congressman's office, absent some immediate and highly dangerous criminal act occuring.

There can be much political hay created about the alleged actions of Rep. William Jefferson, and the fact that he is under serious investigation has already put a big dent in the Democratic party's plans to portray the Republicans as maintaining a "culture of corruption." But it is unfortunate that some have chosen to beat up on Republican House members who are justifiably outraged at the highly constitutionally dubious raid on Jefferson's office.