The New Media Journal | Justice Dept. Transfers 'Panthers' Prosecutor Out of DC Office

The New Media Journal | Justice Dept. Transfers 'Panthers' Prosecutor Out of DC Office: "The veteran Justice Department voting rights section chief who recommended going forward on a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party after they disrupted a Pennsylvania polling place in last year's elections has been removed from his post and transferred to the US attorney's office in South Carolina.

Justice Department officials confirmed Monday that Christopher Coates, who signed off on the complaint's filing in federal court in Philadelphia in January accusing the party and three of its members of civil rights violations, would begin his new assignment next month.

The complaint, which accused party members of intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place while wearing black berets, black combat boots, black dress shirts and black jackets with military-style markings, and wielding a nightstick, was later dismissed by Obama administration political appointees at the Justice Department.

The incident gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube.

The dismissal resulted in outrage by some Republican members of Congress and in a formal investigation by the US Commission on Civil Rights, which subpoenaed Mr. Coates and J. Christian Adams, the lead attorney in the case, to testify on why the complaint was dismissed. The commission also is seeking documents to explain why the charges were dropped just as a federal judge was about to approve sanctions...

Justice Department insiders said Mr. Coates' transfer was not unexpected, despite the fact that many within the department consider the veteran prosecutor as key to efforts by Justice to apply federal civil rights laws in a fair and neutral manner.

Members of the Civil Rights Commission also have questioned whether the decision to drop the New Black Panther Party complaint constituted a departure from long-standing enforcement policy and whether the dismissal might lead to more voter intimidation. ..

In a letter to the Justice Department in June, Commission Vice Chairman Abigail Thernstrom and Commissioner Ashley L. Taylor Jr. said they were 'gravely concerned' that the dismissal 'weakens the agency's moral obligation to prevent voting rights violations, including acts of voter intimidation or vote suppression.'

Earlier this month, Joseph H. Hunt, director of the Justice Department's Federal Programs Branch, told Mr. Coates and Mr. Adams not to cooperate with the commission's investigation, citing what he described as 'well-established' and 'lawful' department guidelines.

Mr. Hunt also said the Civil Rights Commission had no authority to enforce its subpoenas and had the ability only to make referrals to the Justice Department recommending that a criminal case be opened."