Mayor-elect de Blasio’s decision to bring back Commissioner Bratton to lead the New York Police Department is a moment to mark two statements by the Court of Appeals hearing the stop-question-and-frisk case. One came as part of the court’s denial of the motion from the city to vacate Judge Shira Scheindlin’s entire set of orders. The court said that it was denying the city’s motion “without prejudice” to, among other things, “any application to us for a return of the cases to the District Court for the purpose of exploring a resolution.” When it separately held in abeyance a motion for an en banc hearing, it said it was doing so to “maintain and facilitate the possibility that the parties might request the opportunity to return to the District Court for the purpose of exploring a resolution.”

Can Commissioner Bratton — and the new mayor — take a hint? Exploring a resolution is just the kind of thing that courts are always encouraging litigants to be doing. Certainly the next commissioner would be a good man for that job. It was he, after all, who started the program of aggressive police work that has, in combination with the leadership of Commissioner Kelly, brought the crime rate of New York so low. Mr. Bratton must know that if Judge Scheindlin’s decisions are allowed to stand they will tarnish the good name of the department that he headed and is going to try to lead again. Mr. Bratton must know that his own reputation has been tarnished by Judge Scheindlin’s view of the case.

If Mr. de Blasio drops the city’s appeal of the case, there is a risk that Judge Scheindlin’s regime could stand. A resolution of the case seems all the more logical since the next commissioner, with the next mayor at his side, declared, when his appointment was announced, that he believes in stopping, questioning, and, when indicated, frisking New Yorkers. So why would he want — or even tolerate — an outside monitor? Does he have confidence in his own judgment and that of the next mayor? For our part, we had confidence in Commissioner Kelly’s. Mr. Bratton will be lucky to keep crime as low as it has been during the Kelly years. That will be much easier if the stop-question-and-frisk case is resolved in a way that lifts Judge Scheindlin’s stigma from the NYPD.