Washington Times - EDITORIAL: Black Panther battle intensifies

Washington Times - EDITORIAL: Black Panther battle intensifies: "The dispute between the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Justice Department is starting to look like the legal equivalent of World War II's Anzio campaign, which represented a major escalation late in the war. The battleground is the controversy about the department's decision to drop voter-intimidation cases against members of the New Black Panther Party. The commission is mounting a massive legal assault; Justice is refusing to be budged; and the casualties could be high.

The shame of it is that the department itself would be well-served if it would merely cooperate. That's what it would do if it were confident its decision was correct.

For six months, various members of Congress and the commission have been asking for cooperation from the Justice Department. The basic questions are simple enough: On what legal basis did Justice drop these cases, which it effectively already had won? Who were all the officials at Justice (and possibly the White House) who were involved in the decision? And does the decision represent a shift in enforcement policy concerning voting rights?

The Justice Department stonewalled at almost every turn or provided false information. For instance, department official Portia Robinson wrongly claimed that New Black Panther defendant Jerry Jackson 'was a resident of the apartment building where the polling place was located' (and thus presumably had more of a right to loiter there). If the department can't even figure out that Mr. Jackson, a visibly fit age 53, doesn't live in a senior assisted-living facility, its overall reliability surely is questionable."