Top Obama DOJ Officials Involved in Decision to Drop Black Panther Case According to Evidence Obtained by Judicial Watch

Black Panther Case is coming back to life after Judicial Watch finally received the documents they requested. Without Judicial Watch, the Black Panther case would be dead. Judicial Watch is continuing to press for documents that have been withheld from the public:

The index describes 122 documents (totaling at least 611 pages) that the Obama Justice Department is withholding from the public in their entirety. A federal court hearing in the matter is scheduled on October 5, 2010 in Washington, DC, before U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton.

“This new evidence shows that the Obama team lied when it said politics did not influence the Black Panther dismissal,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “We now know that top political leaders inside Obama Justice Department were involved in the call to drop the Black Panther case. And we also know that at least one top Justice official said otherwise under oath. In the meantime, we will ask the Court to require the Obama Justice Department to release these (and other) secret documents about this scandal and its cover-up.”

The Obama Administration who Obama promised would be the most transparent of any Administration is probably the least transparent since they are withholding 211 documents pertaining to the Black Panther case. Holder and his staff need to resigned. This whole deal needs to be investigated by Congress which we don't see happening until Pelosi and her crowd are tossed out on November 2nd with moving day the first week of January.

Top Obama DOJ Officials Involved in Decision to Drop Black Panther Case According to Evidence Obtained by Judicial Watch

Withheld Records Contradict Testimony by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez that No Political Leadership was Involved in the Decision
Contact Information:
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Washington, DC -- September 21, 2010

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released a draft Vaughn index prepared by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that shows that the two top political appointees at the DOJ were involved in the decision to dismiss the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense (NBPP). The index, obtained pursuant to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, contradicts sworn testimony by Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, who testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that no political leadership was involved in the decision.

The Vaughn index produced by the DOJ describes documents that are currently being withheld in their entirety. The index details a series of internal DOJ emails regarding the Black Panther case between the highest political appointees inside Justice, including former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and the Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli.

Excerpt: Read More at Judicial Watch

The DOJ lawyer who started this all by making the facts public, has more on the case on his website including this Washington Times editorial:

Christian Adams: The Tuesday Washington Times chimes in.

EDITORIAL: Black Panther case roars back to life

New evidence undermines Justice Department spin
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, is in big trouble. The public-interest group Judicial Watch yesterday released a 62-page index of documents regarding the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case that undermines the credibility of Mr. Perez and of the Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

For more than a year, The Washington Times has been reporting that Mr. Holder's top political appointees intervened to force the abandonment of serious sanctions against the Black Panther members who threatened voters at a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day 2008. The Justice Department denied the claim, with spokesman Tracy Schmaler asserting to the contrary that only "career employees" engaged in what supposedly was a decision based entirely on "the facts and the law." On May 14, Mr. Perez swore under oath before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that there was no "political leadership involved in the decision not to pursue this particular case any further than it was" and that it was only "a case of career people disagreeing with career people."

As was seen when a host of outsiders accused the George W. Bush administration's Justice Department of firing U.S. attorneys in order to interfere with ongoing investigations, it is improper for cases to be dismissed for purely political reasons. The Obama administration should be held to the same standard.

Excerpt: Read More at Election Center.com

From the Election Center.com as more sites weigh in on this Black Panther case:

Not a good day for the DOJ regarding the Black Panther dismissal

Washington Examiner. It's worse than the Examiner reports. Pajamas Media.
And National Review. And Malkin.