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Holder's Black Panther Stonewall

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
* AUGUST 20, 2009, 7:11 P.M. ET

Holder's Black Panther Stonewall
Why did the Justice Department dismiss such a clear case of voter intimidation?

By JOHN FUND

President Obama's Justice Department continues to stonewall inquiries about why it dropped a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party.

The episode—which Bartle Bull, a former civil rights lawyer and publisher of the left-wing Village Voice, calls "the most blatant form of voter intimidation I've ever seen"—began on Election Day 2008. Mr. Bull and others witnessed two Black Panthers in paramilitary garb at a polling place near downtown Philadelphia. (Some of this behavior is on YouTube.)

One of them, they say, brandished a nightstick at the entrance and pointed it at voters and both made racial threats. Mr. Bull says he heard one yell "You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker!"

In the first week of January, the Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party and three of its members, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring voters with the weapon, uniforms and racial slurs. In March, Mr. Bull submitted an affidavit at Justice's request to support its lawsuit.

When none of the defendants filed any response to the complaint or appeared in federal district court in Philadelphia to answer the suit, it appeared almost certain Justice would have prevailed by default. Instead, the department in May suddenly allowed the party and two of the three defendants to walk away. Against the third defendant, Minister King Samir Shabazz, it sought only an injunction barring him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling place for the next three years—action that's already illegal under existing law.

There was outrage over the decision among Congressional Republicans, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division—especially after it was learned one of the defendants who walked was Jerry Jackson, a member of Philadelphia's 14th Ward Democratic Committee and a credentialed poll watcher for the Democratic Party last Election Day.

Then the Washington Times reported on July 30 that six career lawyers at Justice who had recommended continuing to pursue the case were overruled by Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli—a top administration political appointee. One of the career attorneys, Appellate Chief Diana Flynn, had urged in an internal memo that a judgment be pressed against the defendants to "prevent the paramilitary style intimidation of voters" in the future.

Justice spokesman Alejandro Miyar says the dismissal was "based on a careful assessment of the facts and the law." But Rep. Frank Wolf (R., Va.), has been asking for more information. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch, for example, claims in a July 13 letter to Mr. Wolf that charges against the New Black Panther Party itself were dropped because there wasn't "evidentiary support" to prove they "directed" the intimidation. But Mr. Wolf notes in a letter sent to Justice that one defendant, Black Panther Party Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz, said on Fox News just after the election that his activities at the polling station were part of a nationwide effort. Mr. Shabazz added that the Black Panther activities in Philadelphia were justified due to "an emergency situation."

Mr. Wolf's demands that Justice make the career attorneys on the case available for questions have been rebuffed. He also wants the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings. A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers was noncommittal as to whether any hearing would be held.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted on Aug. 7 to send a letter to Justice expanding its own investigation and demanding more complete answers. "We believe the Department's defense of its actions thus far undermines respect for rule of law," its letter stated. It noted "the peculiar logic" of one Justice argument, that defendants' failure to show up in court was a reason for dismissing the case: "Such an argument sends a perverse message to wrongdoers—that attempts at voter suppression will be tolerated so long as the persons who engage in them are careful not to appear in court to answer the government's complaint."

The commission noted that it could subpoena witnesses and documents if Justice doesn't better explain its actions.

President Obama needs to clear the air. As a former law professor who specialized in voting rights, he is aware of how important even-handed application of the law is to election integrity. In 2007, then-Sen. Obama introduced a bill to protect Americans from tactics that intimidate voters. It also increased the criminal penalty for voter intimidation to five years in prison from one year.

"There is no place for politics in this debate," he testified before Mr. Conyers's committee in March, 2007. "Both parties at different periods in our history have been guilty in different regions of preventing people from voting for a tactical advantage. We should be beyond that."

One way to get there is for Mr. Obama to insist his Justice Department reinstate the Black Panther case or provide a full explanation for why it was dropped.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203550604574361071968458430-lMyQjAxMDA5MDIwMDEyNDAyWj.html
 

MsSage

Well-known member
Get ready for the next elections. They KNOW nothing will be done and now will be out in full force.
When will the left wake up and see what is going on???

yeah yeah I know I sound like a broken record but no one can answer me.
 

Tam

Well-known member
All rules will be out the door at the polling stations at the next election as I have watched videos where it plainly states on the door of the polling stations there is to be no electioneering in or within 100 feet of the door of the polling station but there were "Trouble Voting Ask Me" signs on tables inside a poll. And on the bottom of the signs was printed in large noticable letters "Obama for America". Is this legal NO But the video showed no one telling the person to take the sign down and leave. Another video shows the same sign on the door and people were wearing Obama buttons inside the polling station. Another had a lady chanting Obama's name while sitting in the polling Station. After the polling authorities watched a video of her doing it they came in to stop her and she was magically not at the table but as soon as they left she was back. At another poll it showed people handing Obama pamphlets out to people while holding door open so the people could enter to vote. When the reporter sasked the poll personal about the actions outside the door they denied the person was doing anything wrong and felt the rules should be changes. Did you heard of any of these people getting arrested and charged under the Federal Voting Regulations? You can bet that if a person would have been at that Philly Poll station handing out McCain pamphets while openning the door that nightstick toting Black Panther would have taken it upon himself to teach the person a lesson on Poll rules. The only "CHANGE" I see from Obama is the rules and regulations HIS friends have to follow. :wink:
 

Tam

Well-known member
Sandhusker said:
Something about this administration to be learned here - one of those Obama "teachable moments".

OH YEA People can break the rules by intimidating people, can committ voter fraud, can cheat on their taxes, can cook the book of their companies, can be a Communist felony, be a racist professor that bad mouths law enforcement, can be dictorial thugs, can be a racist pastor that damn America, can be a bomb toting domestic terrorist, to name a few and they all get Obama's respect.

BUT if you are a US citizen legally exercising your right to freedom of speech and you question his agenda and spending habits you are considered a wingnut birther racist ********* that doesn't deserve to be listen to. But do deserve a beating from his Union buddies or a late night visit from an Obama supporter or being compared to a dining room table from an elected dirtbag. . :x
 
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