The Justice Department's internal watchdog is investigating allegationsthat its civil rights division enforced voting laws in a raciallydiscriminatory manner, officials said Monday.
The review by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine is an outgrowth of the political controversy over a 2008 voter intimidation caseagainst members of the New Black Panther Party. Some conservativelawyers, politicians and commentators have said that the civil rightsdivision improperly narrowed that case, part of their broaderallegations that the Obama Justice Department has failed to protect thecivil rights of white voters.
The department's Office of Professional Responsibility is looking intothe matter, and two Republican congressmen, Frank R. Wolf (Va.) andLamar Smith (Tex.) asked Fine to also investigate the department'shandling of the case, according to letters the congressmen sent Fineover the summer.
Fine, in a letter Monday to the congressmen, wrote that his office willnot investigate the New Black Panther case specifically but isinitiating a broader review of how the Justice Department enforcesvoting rights laws.
The letter, released by both congressional offices, said the review willfocus on what types of cases the civil rights division's voting sectionbrings and whether it enforces the law "in a non-discriminatorymanner."
Smith said Monday he is "pleased" that Fine "has decided to take up areview of possible discriminatory practices by attorneys in the CivilRights Division. Recent allegations of politicization within the JusticeDepartment raise serious concerns."
Wolf added that the investigation is "very positive."
Xochitl Hinojosa, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the department"makes enforcement decisions based on the evidence and the merits. Weare committed to the evenhanded enforcement of the many statutes in thejurisdiction of the Civil Rights Division's Voting Section." Shereferred questions about the investigation to Fine's office.
A spokeswoman for Fine confirmed that the review is in its very early stages but would not comment further.
The investigation presents another challenge for the Civil Rights Division,which was strained by employee departures and allegations ofpoliticization during the Bush administration but has been stepping upenforcement. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is a former civilrights lawyer who has vowed to make the division the department's "crownjewel."
But conservatives contend that the Obama administration has itselfbecome politicized, and they have focused their ire on the New BlackPanther case. Filed weeks before the Obama administration took office,it focused on two of the party's members who stood in front of a pollingplace in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008, one carrying a nightstickand identifying himself as "security." The men were captured on video and accused of trying to discourage some people from voting.
Conservatives took issue with the Justice Department's decision lastyear to narrow the case, dropping the party and one of the men, and tofocus only on the nightstick bearer. Department officials say they didnot have sufficient evidence to pursue the case against the otherdefendants. Justice officials from the Bush administration called thedecision political.
Former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adamsrecently told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which held a seriesof hearings on the matter, that he believed the case had been narrowedbecause some in the civil rights division were interested in protectingonly minorities.
That allegation was among those cited by Wolf and Smith in their lettersto Fine, which triggered the inspector general's review.
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