BLACK PANTHER CASE: HOLDER RECEIVES LETTER FROM NEW JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN

Of all the burgeoning scandals that are expected to be exposed to sunlight courtesy of Republican majorities in the House, the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voting rights case is potentially the most explosive. It didn't take long for new House Judiciary Committee chairman, Lamar Smith (R-TX) to issue his first letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on the matter either. In it, Holder is given a deadline of January 21st to respond with some answers. In the first two years of the Obama administration, Holder has stonewalled any and all real inquiry into the case. If Smith is serious, Holder will not be able to do that anymore.

Via Washington Post:

…he (Smith) notes that in the New Black Panther Party case investigation, it came to light that a political appointee, Julie Fernandes, directed Justice Department attorneys "not to bring cases against black defendants for the benefit of white victims."

Smith then details allegations by former Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams that the department declined to enforce the National Voter Registration Act and its provisions relating to "voter integrity."

After reciting the evidence concerning Fernandes's statements and her expressed hostility toward enforcing the NVRA, Smith concludes, "Allegations that the Civil Rights Division has engaged in a practice of race-biased enforcement of voting rights law must be investigated by the Committee." He then gives Holder until January 21 to respond to a list of questions, including whether Fernandes did, in fact, "explicitly or implicitly direct Voting Section staff not to enforce any section of any federal rights statute" or "not to enforce Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act." He demands all documents that relate to the department's enforcement practices under the Voting Rights Act.

In a recent New York Times article, Holder is quoted as saying there's no 'there' there.

It appears there is enough 'there' there to warrant a letter from the new Judiciary committee chairman demanding that Holder prove it. Until now, he has not.

h/t Weasel Zippers