We hold no brief for the exclusionary rule, a judge-written corollary of the Fourth Amendment that bars prosecutors from using even the most damning evidence against a defendant if police failed to follow the niceties of procedure in gathering it. Obedience to this principle, especially in time of war, is the type of folly Justice Jackson had in mind when he warned against converting the Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.

This is no doubt why Governor Pataki and members of the state Senate moved yesterday to waive that rule as it applies to prosecutions of terrorists, if police can show they acted in good faith. The measure was part of a package of legislation designed to strengthen the hand of state and local law enforcement in fighting terrorism.

We gather there are some qualms up in Albany with the hasty way in which Mr. Pataki and Senate leaders conspired to handle what we recognize is a serious matter of constitutional law. The governor saw fit to give the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, a “message of necessity,” allowing him to bring the antiterrorism bills to a vote without the usu al three-day waiting period called for in the state constitution. It is true that the Senate already passed legislation last June, in the same expedited fashion, only to have it languish and die in the Assembly. But that’s no reason to dawdle again. By our lights the message of necessity is an encouraging sign that the crowd up there in Sleepy Hollow has awakened to the urgency of the military crisis.