It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to see Eric Holder’s Justice Department as anything but a purely political entity, not at all interested in applying the law equally. I hate thinking that but how else am I supposed to interpret what the DOJ has done with the case of the New Black Panthers?
You might remember that on Election Day, 2008, a video surfaced showing two members of the New Black Panther Party using racial epithets and billy clubs to intimidate voters outside a Philadelphia polling place. The intimidation was confirmed by a noted civil rights activist, who gave the DOJ a sworn affadavit. The NBPP leaders were so obviously guilty that they didn’t even bother to show up for the hearing. The judge told the DOJ to file for a default judgement against them, which would have levied fairly heavy penalties on the men and the New Black Panther Party. Eric Holder squelched that, however, and ordered that the lawyers on the case drop the voter intimidation charges.
Why did he do that? Well, he hasn’t said, even when officially asked by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and a member of Congress. Thus far, all the DOJ has said is that career bureaucrats in the department didn’t think the government has a good case, which is a ridiculous explanation on its face.
Now, the second (third? fourth?) shoe has dropped, along with any pretense that Eric Holder is a competent law enforcement official.
The veteran Justice Department voting rights section chief who recommended going forward on a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party after they disrupted a Pennsylvania polling place in last year’s elections has been removed from his post and transferred to the U.S. attorney’s office in South Carolina.
Justice Department officials confirmed Monday that Christopher Coates, who signed off on the complaint’s filing in federal court in Philadelphia in January accusing the party and three of its members of civil rights violations, would begin his new assignment next month.
He won’t be doing any civil rights work in South Carolina, either. Coates has been assigned to the criminal division.
I really don’t know how this doesn’t shake out as Eric Holder ridding himself of a troublesome subordinate who wasn’t on board with his rank political decision in the NBPP case. Congress and the Office of Professional Responsibility need to step up their efforts to get answers and make this situation right, sooner rather than later. If the Attorney General won’t apply the law evenly, he needs to be punished. We don’t have room for a political suckup making a hash of our voting laws.
Tags: Civil Rights, Eric Holder
[...] The Anchoress is known for her predictions – she has an interesting set this year. While there, read her take on the ‘Dems kill the DC voucher program’ debacle. Every issue for this administration boils down to politics. [...]