Bombshell: Defying DOJ Instructions, Christopher Coates Will Testify on NBP Case

Pajamas Media ^ | September 22, 2010 | Hans A. von Spakovsky

[jazusamo]

In a dramatic development that could shake the political leadership of  the Justice Department, career lawyer Christopher Coates has sent a letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights offering to testify Friday on matters related to the controversial New Black Panthers voter-intimidation case. Click here, or on the screen capture below to read Coates’ letter in PDF form:

Ten months ago, Coates — the award-winning former chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division — was subpoenaed by the Commission to testify about the case. He was subsequently instructed by DOJ officials to ignore the subpoena.

Within the past hour, commissioners were informed that  Chairman Gerald Reynolds had spoken with Coates and that the chairman would reconvene the Commission’s ongoing hearing on Friday at 9:30 a.m. to hear Coates’s testimony.

The Civil Rights Commission has sought to obtain Coates’ testimony on Justice’s dismissal of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case in Philadelphia. In a recent request to Justice, the commission agreed to limit initial questioning of Coates to accusations made by former career lawyer J. Christian Adams about statements and other actions by Julie Fernandes, an Obama administration political appointee if DOJ produced Coates.

The DOJ refused.

Adams testified that Fernandes, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division in charge of voting matters, told Voting Section leadership that the Obama administration would not file election-related cases against minority defendants — no matter the alleged violation of law.

Adams also testified that Fernandes said Justice would not enforce the provisions of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Section 8 requires states to clean up voter registration lists on a regular basis by removing the names of ineligible voters who have died or moved away.

On Election Day 2008, two uniformed members of the New Black Panther Party — one wielding a club — were caught on video as they appeared to harass voters outside a Philadelphia polling place. The Voting Rights Section filed a civil lawsuit that the defendants did not answer, placing them in default.

However, the Justice Department dismissed virtually the entire case despite the objections of career attorneys.

Watch PJM for more on this remarkable news as it develops.

Hans A. von Spakovsky is a former career lawyer in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department.

[bert]

.....i am concerned you are correct.......

Me too. Otherwise the letter would be unpublished and his appearance would be a big surprise.

[jazusamo]

Or...he could get dead.

Sadly, that's a possibility and hopefully he realizes it.

[penelopesire]

So what happens if this commission finds illegal stuff that went on at the Justice department? Does it go to congress to strip folks of their jobs or to prosecute? Perhaps this is why this is happening all of a sudden. Holder wants this settled before a republican congress gets in power.

Just curious. Where does it go from here should the commission find wrongdoing?

[sunmars]

lets see which Obama press shill is the first to launch a dirtbomb at him.

Lay your bets now.

[Drill Thrawl]

If it makes news I guarantee the left will try to distract us with something.

And Obama knows that we can absord that something.

[Joan Kerrey]

I wonder when we’ll get the accident report and what kind of accident it will be. Hmmm, Washington DC? Maybe a mugging?

[sunmars]

more like accidentally walking into a group of black panthers who just happen to be sightseeing.

[DoughtyOne]

if I were Coates, I’d try to stay away from ominous multi-colored carpet fibers and zones in parks where people drift off the ground for 50 yards at a time.

[cripplecreek]

Screams of racism worked well enough last time this case threatened the president. The issue was starting to seep into the mainstream when the NAACP passed their useless resolution about tea party racism and that became all anybody wanted to talk about.

[Jemian]

If it makes news I guarantee the left will try to distract us with something.

Nuke Iran?
Get South Korea to invade North Korea?
Other?

[Buckhead]

My thoughts as well.

[Shady]

This will come out in a Tea Party Congress through hearings...So best to dump the info on a Friday and hope that Hamas/Hezbolah/Iran decide the time is right to stir thing up in the Middle East, so the effect will be minimized...

[PapaBear3625]

There’s been a pretty strong belief Coates is on Christian Adams’ side on this and the Obama administration can’t stop him from testifying though he could lose his job over it.

Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps Coates had some vacation time coming up, and decided not to tell his supervisors where he planned to take it.

[jazusamo]

Article in The Washington Times:

Justice Dept. official to testify on Panthers case

By Jerry Seper

Excerpt:

The Justice Department section chief who recommended going forward on a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party, and then was removed from his post and transferred to South Carolina, will testify on the case Friday before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Commission officials confirmed Wednesday that Christopher Coates, who signed off on the federal-court complaint saying three party members had disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the 2008 elections, had agreed in a hand-delivered letter to testify when the panel reconvenes its hearing on the case.

In the letter, Mr. Coates said he wanted to attend the meeting "to present testimony to comply with the outstanding subpoena served on me as part of your statutory investigation."

In December, the Justice Department had told the attorneys who filed the complaint not to cooperate in the commission's investigation. Joseph H. Hunt, director of the Justice Department's Federal Programs Branch, had ordered the lawyers' silence, saying there were "well-established" and "lawful" department guidelines prohibiting them from cooperating with the commission.

[Buckhead]

There would be substantial political fallout - which is appropriate. The political system provides the ultimate means of redress via throwing the bums out. That won’t happen until 2012. In the meantime a Republican Congress will be all over this with investigations.

Additionally, there would likely be a special prosecutor appointed, which would generate a whole new wave of bad press, political fall out and further perjury and obstruction of justice in resisting that investigation.

Multiple heads should roll at DOJ over this.

[calex59]

I hope he goes into hiding until the hearing.

[penelopesire]

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter. I agree about the congressional investigations that are coming, should we win in November. The abuse of power and impeachable offenses have been staggering in this administration. It’s time to force Obama to resign.

[Stultis]

Excellent.

It (hopefully) goes further than the fact that Perez and Holder will be exposed as liars.

Each one who bravely comes forward makes it a bit easier for the next. Eventually, if I may mix my metaphors, the dam breaks and scores upon scores are letting cats out of bags.

The only counter play Barago Chabamez has is to come down on every whistle blower like a ton of bricks, trying to make it too costly to tell the truth. The problem with doing that is it runs the risk of giving the story legs. Obama knows the press will ignore this stuff as much as possible, so he's gonna try and make it possible.

[blam]

"Yep, the timing’s just a shame. What’s astonishing is that Eric Holder thought he could get away with this."

He still may...it's hard to hold a Black male responsible for anything.

[jerri]

“There’s been a pretty strong belief Coates is on Christian Adams’ side on this and the Obama administration can’t stop him from testifying though he could lose his job over it.”

I think he is probably being harassed on the job for siding with Adams and so has nothing to lose by testifying.