CONGRESSMAN WARNS ERIC HOLDER NOT TO INTERFERE

When the news broke late Wednesday that civil rights attorney Christopher Coates would refuse to obey the order from his superiors at the Justice Department not to testify about the handling of the Black Panther case, it was the first bombshell. The second bombshell might be Rep. Frank Wolf's (R-VA) letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, warning him not to interfere with Coates' testimony. When J. Christian Adams resigned to testify in front of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights back in May, it was very big news. Coates - formerly Adams' boss - testifying is even bigger news.

Via Pajamas Media, here is the LINK to Wolf's letter to Eric Holder, which says in part:

Mr. Coates has every right to bring this information to a Member of COngress as well as a responsibility to comply with the commission's subpoena, despite the department's obstruction. I trust that Mr. Coates will face no repercussion for his decision and expect you to inform political and career supervisors to respect his decision.

As you are aware, the 1912 Anti-Gag Legislation and Whistleblower Protection Laws for Federal Employees guaranteed that "the right of any persons employed in the civil service...to petition Congress, or any Member thereof, or to furnish information to either House of COngress, or to any committee or member thereof, shall not be denied tor interfered with." (37 Stat. 555, 1912; codified at 5 U.S.C. 7211, 1994).

I'd say this is the most significant blow to the repeated DOJ stonewalls that have insulated it from extremely important questions having to be answered. Depending on how explosive Coates' testimony is, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Eric Holder led Justice Department.

There is much more on this at Pajamas Media.