The dismissal of the U.S. v. New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case has been one of much controversy and many House Republicans have weighed in since it happened. With new evidence coming forth now, Rep. Frank Wolf (VA) wrote a new piece surrounding the subject. A telling video of the case can be seen at the Human Events web site:
Over the past year and a half, I have repeatedly called on the department to furnish documents relating to the dismissal of this case to the Congress and to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which has done a valiant job of trying to investigate the matter. The department continued to obstruct by refusing to turn over relevant documents or make the department officials responsible for the dismissal available to testify.
In response to a lawsuit from a federal watchdog group, Judicial Watch, however, a judge ordered the department to release an index of e-mails relating to the dismissal of this case. Although the text of the e-mails has been withheld, the index and timeline of e-mails relating to the case demonstrate a much more significant and active role from the office of Associate Atty. Gen. Perelli than the department has publicly admitted. This development merits further investigation by the commission and the Congress.I am pleased that the department’s inspector general, Glenn Fine, has now agreed to open an investigation into allegations of the unequal enforcement of federal voting rights laws under this administration, a decision I have repeatedly urged Mr. Fine to make since July 2009.Although he still refuses to investigate the specifics of the dismissal of the U.S. v. New Black Panther Party case, he has begun an inquiry into the Civil Rights Division’s alleged hostility to the race-neutral enforcement of civil rights laws.