Black Panther voter intimidation testimony today
Thomas Lifson
Christopher Coates, former voting chief for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, has given powerful testimony this morning, under oath, about the dismissal of charges against members of the New Black Panther Party who carried truncheons at a polling place in Philadelphia. Fox News reports:

Coates went in depth about a controversial decision to dismiss charges against New Black Panther members after they were videotaped outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008 dressed in military-style uniforms and allegedly hurling racial slurs while one brandished a night stick.

The case has drifted in and out of the limelight over the past year as the commission has struggled to investigate it. Ex-Justice official J. Christian Adams fueled the controversy when he testified in July and accused his former employer of showing "hostility" toward cases that involve white victims and black defendants.

Nearly three months later, Coates backed up Adams' claims. In lengthy and detailed testimony, he said the department cultivates a "hostile atmosphere" against "race-neutral enforcement" of the Voting Rights Act. [...]

He said civil rights attorneys stick to cases that involve minority victims and that the Black Panther case was dismissed following "pressure" by the NAACP and "anger" at the case within the Justice Department itself.

"That anger was the result of their deep-seated opposition to the equal enforcement of the Voting Rights Act against racial minorities and for the protection of white voters who have been discriminated against," he said.


This outrageous behavior by the top law enforcement agency of the United States, denying equal protection of the law to white voters, has the potential to seriously damage AG Eric Holder, and the man who appointed him, Barack Obama, and the entire Democratic Party. The DoJ's inspector General is already investigating, and and if Republicans control, the House of Representatives next year, we can expect serious investigation armed with subpoena power.

Zoe Lofgren's contemptible summoning of satirist Steven Colbert to testify before her committee -- only to have the comedian be asked to leave by the more level-headed John Conyers -- may well have been a diversionary effort, to suck away the media spotlight. It no doubt will succeed in helping the liberal media to ignore the explosive Coates testimony, but the liberal media no longer have the power to deep six stories that embarrass their Democrat allies.

The Obama Justice Department is doing its best to create the impression among the white majority that it regards them as second class citizens. As further details emerge, the damage to Obama and the Democrats will grow worse, I predict.