Attorney General Eric Holder put a lump of coal in South Carolina’s Christmas stocking on Dec. 23 when he objected to the state’s new voter ID law. By ignoring inconvenient facts and clear legal precedent, Holder showed once again that politics and ideology—not the rule of law—drive his law enforcement decisions. Given the power of the Justice Department and its potential for abuse, this should worry all Americans, particularly when that abuse has the potential to affect the outcome of next year’s election. South Carolina passed a voter ID law …
In June 2010, J. Christian Adams resigned his post as a career attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Adams cited DOJ’s decision to abandon prosecution of two members of the New Black Panther Party who had brandished weapons outside of a Philadelphia polling station in 2008, shouting racial slurs at passers-by. Adams called it “the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career.” The decision to drop the case – made by top officials at the Civil Rights Division – was …
The final version of the Interim Report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the investigation of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case was released yesterday and is available on the commission’s website. Get it while it’s hot. With the expiration of the terms of several commissioners, new appointees by President Obama and others doing the administration’s bidding will soon control a majority of the commission seats. It seems unlikely the new majority will continue the investigation into the real reason for the dismissal of the NBBP …
Last year, Attorney General Eric Holder told the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs that the Obama administration’s “commitment to Equal Protection – and to full participation in our nation’s elections – will not waiver. Never.” But Friday, The Washington Post published a story that completely undercuts that claim. The story itself breaks little new ground. Followers of this blog have already read all the details in the story. But the Post story does add confirmation from three Justice Department lawyers that the dismissal of charges against …
On May 14, 2010, Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about the DOJ’s decision to completely drop charges against the New Black Panther Party and two of its members for alleged voter intimidation in violation of the 1964 Voting Rights Act. Perez was also questioned about the department’s decision to seek only narrow injunctive relief against a third defendant who wielded a billy club at the polls on Election Day 2008. After his prepared remarks, Commissioner Todd Gaziano …
Stunning new developments in the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voter-intimidation scandal indicate that high-level Justice Department officials have been misleading the public and Congress. Indeed, they may also have committed perjury before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Judicial Watch recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit requesting documents related to the case, and today it released a log produced by the Justice Department of e-mail communications and other documents that Justice is withholding from disclosure on purported privilege grounds. The log details numerous discussions and legal …
As the scandal over the dismissal of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voter intimidation case percolates in the media, letters have been flying through the corridors of power. On July 22, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) sent a letter to President Obama demanding that he appoint a special counsel to look into the Justice Department’s handling of the case. On July 28, Gerald Reynolds — chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — sent Attorney General Eric Holder another letter once again demanding the testimony of Christopher Coates, who …
Abby Thernstrom is my friend and we usually agree on voting matters, but I have to say with due respect to her that her view of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case is wrong for a number of reasons, from her characterization of the evidence in the case to a misunderstanding of the applicable legal standards. On the other hand, Commissioner Thernstrom seems to have backed off somewhat on some issues in her latest posting at National Review. Whether or not this is because of the sharp criticism …
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman last week became the first Democrat to ask Attorney General Eric Holder to reopen the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case, according to the Washington Times. Sherman wrote a letter to Holder to request that he re-file “criminal” charges against the New Black Panthers involved in the case. Sherman’s July 19 letter to the Department of Justice stated: It appears that a decision was made in May 2009 to not use the full force of the law with regard to those members of the New Black …
E.J. Dionne Jr. does not want to talk about the facts of the New Black Panther Party case. In his column today he dismisses the issue “right-wing propaganda” while blithely repeating blatant falsehoods. The American Spectator‘s Quin Hillyer called Dionne out this morning: He writes: “This is a story about a tiny group of crackpots who stopped no one from voting.” WRONG. Does Dionne ever actually do his own research and read documents? Two different people, both of them highly credible witnesses, including civil rights legend Bartle Bull, swore under …
