PHILADELPHIA BLACK PANTHER CASE STILL PERCOLATING

Not only is the case of the Black Panther case in Philadelphia still lingering, much to the chagrin of Eric Holder, but it appears that the blatant absurdity of how it was handled may be doing serious and tangible damage to Holder's Department of Justice. The case was about two Black Panthers dressed in military garb (one wielding a night stick) outside a polling station in Philadelphia on election day 2008.

The thugs were caught on video.

Suit was filed and the Panthers never responded to it. The plaintiffs had won a default judgment. Disturbingly, Holder's office dropped the charges against three of the defendants with the fourth getting less than a slap on the wrist.

The WASHINGTON TIMES reported that this incident and how it was handled stinks so badly that DOJ employees may be exiting as a result. Holder's deputy, David Ogden is resigning and two other top DOJ attorneys are gone as well.

Issues involved in causing this case to haunt Holder are many but perhaps most important among them is the Department's apparent decision to stonewall the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' request via subpoena for information about the case:

...a Web site called "Main Justice" reported on Wednesday (and we have since confirmed) that the Justice Department has, for now, ordered two key career attorneys not to comply with a subpoena about the case issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The commission, by law, has explicit power to issue subpoenas, and the law mandates that "all federal agencies shall cooperate fully with the commission." The Justice Department, however, is citing internal regulations stemming from a 1951 case to support its order to ignore the subpoena.

So a law that says entity A can issue subpoenas to entity B is trumped by entity B saying that it doesn't have to comply with the law entity A is using to issue subpoenas?

Makes perfect sense.