This Times editorial supports the Office of Congressional Ethics’s unprecedented move to refer a matter to the Department of Justice, among other things.

Even more encouraging is the office’s investigation into whether members of the House Appropriations Committee custom tailored defense contracts worth hundreds of millions in return for generous campaign contributions. True to form, the House ethics committee — urged to investigate further by the new ethics office — found no sign of quid pro quo.

The new ethics watchdog has refused to let the case die. It asked the Justice Department last week to review evidence that “certain persons and companies” trafficked in lucrative back-scratching.