Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act by the Obama Justice Department

The image above has been reprinted many times in news media since Election Day 2008 when the members of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) in the photo stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia. Before leaving office, the Bush Justice Department charged these individuals and the NBPP with violating the Voting Rights Act because they allegedly made statements and certain gestures that intimidated or could have intimidated some white voters. After receiving a default judgment against the defendants, the Obama Justice Department, under new Attorney General Eric Holder, dismissed the case against all defendants except one, who was enjoined from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling place.

One month after the disposition of the NBPP case, the US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) began an investigation into the conduct of the Justice Department in its decision not to seek injunctions against the NBPP and the other defendant. The USCCR was created by Congress in 1957 to investigate allegations of civil rights abuses that were quite common in those days in the South. Their first investigation involved looking for evidence of racial discrimination in voting procedures within the state of Alabama. Their investigative reports to Congress led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

In the USCCR's first letter of inquiry to Justice in June 2009, four Commissioners stated that the decision of the Civil Rights Division of Justice to dismiss the lawsuit against all but one defendant in the NBPP case was of concern to them because the defendants were caught on video tape "engaging in attempted voter suppression the likes of which we haven't witnessed in decades". The video showed the defendants "blocking access to the polls,... physically threatening and verbally harassing voters" during the November 2008 general elections. http://www.usccr.gov/correspd/VoterIntimidation2008LetterDoJ.pdf

Since this first letter, the Commission has held hearings and taken depositions of many of the parties involved, including the Civil Rights Division Chief and two of the Justice lawyers who handled the lawsuit when it was in court. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) has been diligent in pursuing information about the Justice decisions in this case and its implications for impartial enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, even when it might involve white victims of discrimination by blacks. Frank Wolf's extensive correspondence on this matter can be found at http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=372&itemid=1622.

One of the key Justice lawyers involved in the NBPP case is Christopher Coates, who was the former head of the Civil Rights Division until the Obama Administration took over. After the NBPP case was dismissed against all but one member of the NBPP, Coates was reassigned to the South Carolina US Attorney's Office after working in the Civil Rights Division since the Clinton Administration and being awarded the Civil Rights Division’s Walter Barnett Memorial Award for Excellence and Advocacy during his tenure in Washington. The USCCR subpoenaed Coates to testify in their investigatory hearings last year, but he was barred by his supervisors from doing so.

Another Justice lawyer, J. Christian Adams, who worked on the NBPP case, resigned from the Department and testified in June 2010 about the hostile environment created in Eric Holder's Justice Department toward any Voting Rights cases being brought against black defendants. That testimony by Adams gave the USCCR investigation more attention by the press and Congressman Wolf.

Frank Wolf's pursuit of the Justice Department's enforcement philosophy regarding Voting Rights Act cases resulted in the Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, agreeing on September 13, 2010 to review the broader issues of voting rights enforcement by Justice that go beyond the NBPP case.

Then, just at the end of September, Christopher Coates was finally able to testify himself to the USCCR. However, Coates had to do so with cover from Congressman Wolf, who wrote to Eric Holder before Coates' testimony to remind the Attorney General that his employee, Mr. Coates, is protected under the Whistleblower Protection laws that bar anyone from denying or interferring with the testimony of a federal employee.

Coates testified that, after Barack Obama became President, many people in civil rights organizations "who had demonstrated hostility to the concept of equal enforcement of the [Voting Rights Act]" were brought into positions of power and influence in the Justice Department. Coates testified that in his view these people believe that the protections of the Voting Rights Act should not be extended to white voters and should be limited to racial, ethnic and language minorities.

Coates further stated that the new Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Obama Administration, Julie Fernandez, held meetings with the Civil Rights Division in 2009 at which she said that the Department's approach to enforcing the Voting Rights Act would be to "provide political equality for racial and language minorities" and that "is what we are all about". http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/TestimonyChristopherCoates_09-24-10.pdf

The implication of Adams' and Coates' testimony seems clear, i.e. that white voters are not to be protected under the Voting Rights Act by the current Administration. The Inspector General's current inquiry will provide more information about the Justice Department's civil rights enforcement approach when it is concluded, but Congressman Wolf must be commended for pursuing this matter when it is certainly not a headline grabbing issue for the mainstream media that continues to spin the Obama mythology of "Hope" for the middle class regardless of color.

It is also strange that an Administration that promised transparency has tried to bar Christopher Coates from testifying to the USCCR for over a year, put J. Christian Adams in the position of having to resign from his job to testify and sends high ranking Justice officials to testify without being candid about their true voting rights enforcement philosophy.

What happened to "Equal Justice Under the Law"?

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A Day of Remembrance

On the evening of September 11, 2001, my wife, Peggy, and I went to the US Capitol where we heard an impromptu gathering of people was forming to solemnly mark the end of one of the most terrible days in our country's history. As a group of ordinary Americans, who were stunned by the terrorists' attacks that morning, people of all ages, races, ethnic groups and nationalities slowly and silently moved from the streets and arriving cars to climb the steps of the West side of the Capitol building. Capitol Police stood silently in watch. Voices that were heard were softly spoken, when heard at all.

As the sun was setting, we sat on the steps looking in the direction of the Pentagon (about 3 miles away across the Potomac River) where one of the jetliners commandeered by hijackers had hit its target. We were all in disbelief that such evil exists in the world and that so many innocent lives could be ended so suddenly without any provocation by the victims.

I agree with President Obama when he says that we are not at war with Islam. George W. Bush said the same thing several times. But it cannot be denied that there is a radical segment of the Muslim population that is at war with America and what our country represents as a financial, economic and military superpower which provides freedoms to its citizens unknown in much of the Muslim world.

In the nine years since the 9/11 attacks, our government has taken many needed steps to make the country safer, but no one can be sure that we are safe. We now face a new extremist threat as American Muslims, such as the Fort Hood shooter and the failed Times Square bomber, are responding to the jihadist calls from followers of Osama bin Laden.

I keep waiting for a recognized Muslim leader of PEACE to provide teachings and messages that dispute and counter the extremist views of Islam repeatedly sent around the world by al-Qaeda and its allies. Instead, we continue to see images of Muslims in protest burning American flags and chanting "Death to America" (and now "Death to Obama") whenever they are told of perceived insults to their religion, even if such reports are not true. For examples of such Muslim protests, see Michelle Malkin's article at http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/10/the-eternal-flame-of-muslim-outrage/.

However perverted bin Laden's view of Islam may be, will this religiously driven hatred toward the West ever end?

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