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1 Gerald A. Reynolds, et al., Letter: Commission to Eric Holder: Voter Intimidation and the New Black Panther Party 1 (2009)

handle is hein.civil/usccve0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES 624 Ninth Street, N.W. COMMISSION ON Washington, D.C. 20425 CIVIL RIGHTS August 10, 2009 The Honorable Eric Holder Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice Washington, DC 20530 Dear Attorney General Holder: Pursuant to our statutory mandate, we sent inquiries on June 16 and 22 to the Civil Rights Division's Acting Assistant Attorney General, Loretta King, regarding the unusual dismissal of the government's case against most of the defendants in United States v. New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Civ. No. 09-0065 SD (D. Pa.) (NBPP case).' We regret that the reply from Portia Roberson, Director of the Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, is largely non-responsive to our questions. To the extent it is responsive, it paints the Department in a poor light. We also reviewed correspondence between DOJ and Members of Congress who raised similar questions about the case. The July 13 letter from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich to House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith is also non-responsive and includes what we believe to be factual errors and asserts novel and questionable legal claims. As we explain below, the DOJ's replies thus far raise new and serious questions about its civil rights enforcement decisions, which we believe we are obligated to investigate. Moreover, news stories3 have now raised questions about Ms. King's role in the decision to dismiss the suit against the NBPP.4 whose members, with military-style uniforms and weapons, taunted voters with racially-intimidating comments as they approached the polls.' The news stories also report certain steps by senior political appointees at DOJ in approving the dismissal of most of the case and the extremely narrow injunction against the sole remaining defendant. That Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, a political appointee, reportedly approved the dismissal of the suit against a Democratic poll worker raises several questions. In light of these reports, it may have been a mistake to address our initial inquiry to Ms. King or 'The decision to begin our inquiry was reached during an open meeting of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on June 12, 2009. Chairman Reynolds, Commissioner Gaziano, Commissioner leriot, and Commissioner Kirsanow voted to begin the inquiry with the letter that was subsequently sent on June 16 (Commissioner Melendez abstained from the vote). On June 22, Vice Chair Thernstrom and Commissioner Taylor, who were not present at the time the vote was taken, sent their own letter to Ms. King joining the request for relevant information on the case. The signatories to this letter have voted to expand the Commission's investigation as reflected herein, with Commissioners Melendcz and Yaki abstaining. 2 Ms. Roberson did not date her letter. Commission staff stamped it as received on July 24. See, e.g., Jerry Seper, No. 3 at Justice OK' Panther Reversal, WASH. TIMES, July 30, 2009. 4 The New Black Panther Party for Self Defense has been identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, among others. Southern Poverty Law Center, Active U.S Hate Groups in US. available online; Anti-Defamation League, New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, available online; National Geographic Channel, Inside the New Black Panthers, available online. Nor is its influence small. The Anti-Defamation League claims that it has become the largest organized anti-Semitic black militant group in America. Anti-Defamation L_,eague, supra. * NBPP Case, No. 09-0065 (ID. Pa. filed Jan. 7, 2009) (Compl. ¶¶ 8-11).

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