A win for John Doe

This week's "John Doe" episode in the House's "9/11 bill" conference negotiations ended well, thanks to a drumbeat of pro-tipster sentiment and an eleventh-hour cave-in by House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat. That it took House Democrats so long to come to reason says much about both the pressure groups in opposition and the difficulty Democrats have in saying no to the far left.

ho would have benefited? Aside from ending some inconveniences, the real beneficiaries would be trial lawyers and pressure groups like CAIR eager to pull down the nation's homeland-security procedures. Of course, trial lawyers and far-left anti-antiterrorism groups happen to be important sources of money and policy support for Democrats.

The frightening part is how close we came to open-season on citizen tipsters. As recently as Tuesday, the tipster-immunity language appeared to be dead.