DOJ Opens Probe Into New Black Panther Case

Under pressure from Republicans in Congress and the Civil Rights Commission, the Department of Justice has initiated its own investigation into the dismissal of the slam-dunk conviction of New Black Panthers who intimidated voters last year.

The inquiry is disclosed in an Aug. 28 letter to Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee who first raised questions about the dismissal in May and asked unsuccessfully that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. make available the head of the department's Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division for a closed-door briefing on the decision.

In the letter, Mary Patrice Brown, acting OPR counsel, told the veteran congressman from Texas that the office had "initiated an inquiry into the matter" and that it would "contact you with the results of our inquiry once it is completed."

Even Democrats know that evil was done when the President's men at Justice let the New Black Panthers off the hook. They're just hoping that people will forget about it.

Is this going to be like when the House Ethics Committee investigates one of its own members? Their conclusions usually have little to do with ethics. I wonder what relation the Justice Department's inquiry will have to justice.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 11:21 AM

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