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Justice Dept. moves Panthers pursuer to S.C.

"It is our understanding he was willing to take the detail, and we look forward to him being on the job," Mr. McDonald said.
Justice Department insiders said Mr. Coates' transfer was not unexpected, despite the fact that many within the department consider the veteran prosecutor as key to efforts by Justice to apply federal civil rights laws in a fair and neutral manner.
Members of the Civil Rights Commission also have questioned whether the decision to drop the New Black Panther Party complaint constituted a departure from long-standing enforcement policy and whether the dismissal might lead to more voter intimidation.
Commissioner Todd Gaziano, a former Justice Department lawyer who served in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, said the dismissal had the potential to significantly change enforcement of the Voting Rights Act "for good or for bad."
In a letter to the Justice Department in June, Commission Vice Chairman Abigail Thernstrom and Commissioner Ashley L. Taylor Jr. said they were "gravely concerned" that the dismissal "weakens the agency's moral obligation to prevent voting rights violations, including acts of voter intimidation or vote suppression."
"We cannot understand the rationale for this case's dismissal and fear that it will confuse the public on how the Department of Justice will respond to claims of voter intimidation or voter suppression in the future," they wrote.
Earlier this month, Joseph H. Hunt, director of the Justice Department's Federal Programs Branch, told Mr. Coates and Mr. Adams not to cooperate with the commission's investigation, citing what he described as "well-established" and "lawful" department guidelines.
Mr. Hunt also said the Civil Rights Commission had no authority to enforce its subpoenas and had the ability only to make referrals to the Justice Department recommending that a criminal case be opened.
His comments, outlined in a letter, were in response to concerns raised by Mr. Adams, who -- through his attorney, Jim Miles of Lexington, S.C. -- asked whether he would be subject to prosecution if he declined to respond to a commission subpoena.
Mr. Miles said he thought Mr. Adams had a "statutory obligation superior to that imposed by the Department of Justice" and that his refusal to cooperate might subject him to imprisonment or contempt charges.
Mr. Hunt had said there was "no reasonable likelihood of imprisonment" for Mr. Adams because "the Department of Justice itself has instructed your client not to provide any information (either via testimony or documents) to the commission."
Mr. Miles on Monday said he was surprised by the transfer.
"As it has been explained to me, Mr. Coates was an attorney of great skill, and it is ironic he would be moved out of that position," Mr. Miles said. "But I assure you his quality of life will be substantially improved by moving to South Carolina out of the Washington Beltway area."
Mr. Miles said he had no way of knowing whether circumstances would impact his client, but added that he was "amazed" that the Justice Department had "gone to such length, depth and height to torch the disclosure of its decision-making process in this case."
Career attorneys in the Justice Department's Voting Rights section had decided as early as Dec. 22, 2008, to seek charges in the New Black Panther Party case.
The decision to dismiss the complaint came from then-Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after an April 2009 meeting she had with Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the department's No. 3 political appointee, according to interviews with lawyers familiar with the case.
At the time, the career attorneys wanted the department to seek sanctions in the case because the government already had won a default judgment. They were in the final stages of completing that work when they were told to seek a delay, according to federal records and interviews with lawyers familiar with the case.
The complaint had accused the New Black Panther Party, its chairman, Malik Zulu Shabazz, a D.C. lawyer, Minister King Samir Shabazz, head of the Philadelphia chapter, and Jerry Jackson, a Philadelphia party member. Justice later sought an injunction against Samir Shabazz, who carried the nightstick, barring him from displaying weapons at polling places until 2012.
Party members have not returned numerous telephone messages and e-mails for comment, but told the Associated Press earlier this month in Dallas that the Justice Department was correct in dismissing the complaint. Malik Shabazz described the complaint as a "political witch hunt" aimed at discrediting Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. - the first black man to be named to the post.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/29/justice-transfers-panthers-pursuer-out-of-dc-offic/?page=2

House panel rejects Panther resolution

The Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday rejected by a 15-14 vote a resolution of inquiry that would have forced the Justice Department to tell Congress why it dismissed a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 election.
The party-line vote had been sought by Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, who, along with Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said they have been unable to get information from the department on the complaint's dismissal.
"I am deeply disappointed that the Judiciary Committee defeated my resolution of inquiry on a party-line vote. There has been no oversight, no accountability and certainly no transparency with regard to this attorney general and this Department of Justice," Mr. Wolf said.
"Where is the 'unprecedented transparency' that this administration promised? Where is the honesty and openness that the majority party pledged? The American people deserve better," he said.
The 15 Democrats, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, sent the resolution to the House floor with an adverse recommendation, voting it "unfavorably" out of committee. They described the Philadelphia polling disruption as an "isolated incident" that received sufficient punishment when the New Black Panther Party member who carried a nightstick was barred from carrying weapons at polling places in the future.
Rep. Dan Lungren, California Republican, described the dismissal of the complaint as "a denial of justice" and Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, said the resolution was an attempt to hold the Justice Department accountable to Congress.
Mr. Wolf said that after ignoring seven letters over seven months seeking information on the case and failing to comply with subpoenas from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, he decided to seek the resolution. He said Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. continues to "thwart all efforts to compel an explanation for the dismissal."
Mr. Conyers disagreed, saying the Justice Department had been "quite cooperative" in providing information to Congress. He said efforts by the department to keep the committee informed were "fairly numerous." The Justice Department did respond to several of the requests for information, although Mr. Wolf and others have described them as nonresponsive.
Mr. Wolf, ranking Republican on the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies that funds the Justice Department, also said that while the Justice Department is claiming broad privileges to avoid disclosing any new information regarding the case, many legal scholars have challenged the department's assertions of privilege. He said the committee's failure to approve his resolution had set a "troubling precedent."
"Is it going to continue to blindly defer to all unsubstantiated claims of privilege from the department?" he asked. "The Justice Department has gone as far as to claim privilege and redact seven pages of a letter I sent to the attorney general and released publicly on July 31, 2009.
"I sincerely question the judgment of the Civil Rights Division leadership — both in its dismissal of this case and its stonewalling of this Congress and the Commission on Civil Rights," he said.
Mr. Wolf argued that the complaint was "inexplicably dismissed" earlier this year over the objections of the career attorneys overseeing the case as well as the departments own appeal office. He said he regretted resorting to an oversight resolution, but "Congress and the American people have a right to know why this case was not prosecuted."
In his resolution, first filed on Dec. 16, Mr. Wolf asked that Mr. Holder be directed to transmit to the House all information in his possession relating to the decision by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to dismiss the complaint.
That would have included copies of documents, memos and correspondence involving the New Black Panther Party and the Justice Department; any communications by the department regarding the case, both in and outside the agency; and any evidence regarding the complaint's dismissal.
Mr. Wolf said he took oversight of the department "very seriously" and was a strong supporter of voting rights protections.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/14/house-panel-rejects-panther-resolution-15-14/