There Is An Effort Being Made To Protect Voters From Voter Intimidation

There is an effort being made to protect voters from voter intimidation; unfortunately, that effort is not coming from the White House or the Obama Justice Department.

This article is based on two stories posted on the internet yesterday, one at the Washington Times and one at the Washington Examiner.  The stories relate to the voter intimidation that took place in Philadelphia in the 2008 election.  The New Black Panthers are seen in a YouTube video holding billy clubs and intimidating voters.  The Justice Department did not invoke any serious charges against the Black Panthers and that has led to speculation that the case was dismissed for purely political reasons. 

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to obtain documents from the Justice Department related to the handling of this case. 

According to Judicial Watch, the documents they obtained:

"...contradict sworn testimony by Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, who testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that no political leadership was involved in the decision (Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice (No. 10-851))."

This is the update on the case from the Judicial Watch website:

"The Justice Department originally filed its lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party following an incident that took place outside of a Philadelphia polling station on November 4, 2008. A video of the incident, showing a member of the New Black Panther Party brandishing police-style baton weapon, was widely distributed on the Internet. According to multiple witnesses, members of the New Black Panthers blocked access to polling stations, harassed voters and hurled racial epithets. Nonetheless, the Justice Department ultimately overruled the recommendations of its own staff and dismissed the majority of its charges.

""These documents show the Obama Justice Department's decision to drop the Black Panther case was certainly political and potentially corrupt," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The Black Panther decision is a scandal for the Obama administration and it merits serious attention by investigators. Assistant Attorney General Perez seems to have been less than candid in his sworn testimony when he said no political appointees were involved in the decision. This scandal has just gotten a whole lot worse for the Obama Justice Department.""

I don't know how much of the media will actually report what has happened here, but it is obvious that the Justice Department has become political.  That is not only unfortunate, it is unconstitutional.  It is time to elect people who will go to Washington and clean this mess up.