In case you missed it, charges agains the New Black Panthers for voter intimidation were dropped, with no good reason given. Here’s a short clip of the NBP outside a polling place in Philadelphia.
Someone in the Justice Department is finally looking into the matter. It must be a career employee, rather than a political appointment. I wonder how long she’ll be employed. The Washington Times reports:
The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility has begun an inquiry into the dismissal in May of a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party and two of its members who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place during last year’s presidential elections.
The inquiry was disclosed in an Aug. 28 letter to Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee who first raised questions about the case’s dismissal and asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., to make available the head of the department’s Voting Section for a closed-door briefing about the decision.
In the letter, Mary Patrice Brown, acting counsel, told the Texas congressman that the Office of Professional Responsibility had “initiated an inquiry into the matter” and would “contact you with the results of our inquiry once it is completed.” A copy of the letter was obtained by The Washington Times.
“I am pleased that someone at the Justice Department is finally taking the dismissal of the New Black Panther Party case seriously,” Mr. Smith said Wednesday. “The Justice Departments decision to drop a case against political allies who allegedly intimidated voters on Election Day 2008 reeks of political interference.”
Would it be too much to ask to have charges reinstated?
