J. Christian Adams: DOJ Opponents of Race-Neutral Law Should Explain Themselves

Pajamas Media ^ | July 6, 2010 | J. Christian Adams

[jazusamo]

Today I testified to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights pursuant to a subpoena investigating the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation dismissal. I would rather no such obligation had arisen.

My previous Pajamas Media article comprised much of what I was willing to testify about. In that article, I detailed specific instances of hostility being expressed towards a race-neutral enforcement of civil rights laws, and in particular laws regarding voting and elections.

To the many that have experienced the hostility firsthand, denials of its existence seem preposterous.

To the many who expressed such hostility, often thoughtful but wrong, it would be a help to all of us if they might engage the debate with the respectable tenor which they sometimes did when I was in the Department of Justice. After all, such opponents of race-neutral law enforcement surely weren’t “cowards” about discussing race in those instances, and we might all benefit from a full understanding of their views. So let’s have the opponents of race-neutral enforcement of voting cases come out in the open and tell the American public why they oppose it.

But I’ll start the discussion for now.

I am reminded of a visit to the Voting Section by newly confirmed Attorney General Eric Holder in March of 2009. Attorney General Holder came to the conference room to meet the assembled Voting Section. He was introduced by a political appointee, then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King. It was quite exciting. In every federal building, a photograph of the president is displayed with the agency head. So in the Justice Department, President Obama is displayed with General Holder at the entrances.

Loretta King had the honor of introducing Attorney General Holder. She would subsequently participate in the dismissal of the New Black Panther voter intimidation case. And she said something astonishing in her introduction of the attorney general.

She exclaimed to the crowd:

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to go to work every day, and look up at the photos, and see that we now have two black men running the country.

Cheers followed, but not from everyone.

Obviously, I recognize the joy that naturally surrounds the election of the first black president. In 1860, a system of bondage debased the humanity of nearly four million souls in America. Even after hundreds of thousands gave their lives in places like Gettysburg, Stones River, and Battery Wagner, new but still evil ways were devised to oppress a race.

I’ve stood alone in the driveway where Medgar Evers fell in Jackson, Mississippi, and considered the sad heroism that characterizes some of the last martyrs to a cause. How close he came to seeing a sort of Promised Land on Earth, where Mississippi now boasts more minority elected officials per capita than any other state.

I’ve scoured the back streets of Philadelphia, Mississippi, hunting down the half-hidden memorial to James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three champions of the right to vote. They were slaughtered after being pulled over by Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price. I wondered why the memorial was not at the jail where they were detained with sinister intent. It would make a more noble witness to what an unrestrained government is capable of doing to humans.

These places moved me to my core. I cannot even imagine how profound the election of Barack Obama would be to me if I experienced the evil injustice of segregation as a target.  I deeply respect the overwhelming joy following the election, even if I cannot understand it in the same way.

But foul history does not excuse foul impropriety.

Electoral euphoria does not justify a racially tinged announcement by a superior, in the presence of the United States attorney general, to her subordinates.

Imagine if in March 2013, the new political leadership of the Civil Rights Division were to introduce Attorney General Jeff Sessions, refer to the portrait of President Mitch Daniels, and say: “What a relief it is to come to work every day and see we once again have two white men running the country.” Not only would the story be blasted on the front pages of the Washington Post, and rightfully so, but the person who made the statement would probably lose their job. At the very least, the attorney general would be sure to take the underling aside afterwards and make it unequivocally clear that such racially tinged comments are completely unacceptable.

Had this occurred at private business, the same Civil Rights Division would probably open an employment discrimination investigation into the conduct.

What are the chances that Attorney General Holder had that discussion with Loretta King?

I’ll bet next to none. But it is certainly something that now-Senator Sessions might ask Attorney General Holder next time an oversight hearing occurs. One thing is for sure — King’s power in the Civil Rights Division did not diminish after her comment. She was held out as the fair, unbiased, and competent civil servant who gave careful consideration to the New Black Panther case.

Despite the defendants waving a baton and yelling “you are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker,” Loretta King decided that a dismissal of nearly all of the case was the only available course of action. Alas, the worm has turned.

I stated on Fox News that it was clear to me that no cases against national racial minorities would issue from the Voting Section during this administration. Let’s hope they change their mind. I testified under oath today, because I had no choice, that those instructions were given by Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) Julie Fernandes.

My understanding of her instructions were that no cases would be brought against national racial minorities by the Voting Section, and if a U.S. Attorney wanted to bring one, it was up to them to do so. Of course, no U.S. attorney will wade into that sort of mess without the help of the experts in the Voting Section, and DAAG Fernandes would know that.

If the Department denies this occurred, then the public and the now-very-interested media should demand that the senior management of the Voting Section in 2009 be made to testify under oath to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Of course this will never happen, because they know by now what the testimony would be.

This was not the first reckless and lawless instruction Julie Fernandes had given to the Voting Section. I will be writing in the future here at Pajamas Media about other ones that could directly affect the outcome of elections.

The Department has come under widespread criticism for the dismissal of the New Black Panther case, and for the fact that many within the Civil Rights Division are openly hostile to a race-neutral enforcement of civil rights laws. Notice that the Department has never once denied that widespread hostility exists throughout its ranks to bringing cases against national racial minorities. To do so would be futile, because so many people know it is true.

That doesn’t mean the Department of Justice can’t redeem itself.

The best thing that could happen from the ugly New Black Panthers dismissal and public revelation of the truth is for the Department to change course. The outrage I have heard in hundreds of emails and in calls from around the nation tell me Americans value equal enforcement of the law as much as they cherish the right to vote without men with weapons shouting racial slurs at them. Equality and the right to vote are sacred partners.

If these hearings prompt the Department to reconsider the institutional hostility to equal enforcement of voting laws, then it will be a great day for America. We will all be able to exhale and declare: “Thank goodness they finally followed the law.” If it took attention for them to change course, we can all agree the attention was good.

I actually believe Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez is the right man to do it. He inherited the mess of the New Black Panthers case from Steve Rosenbaum and Loretta King, two lifelong civil servants who should be forced by the attorney general to learn what it is like to find paying clients. Similarly, reckless instructions to the voting section by DAAG Julie Fernandes can still be reversed by Perez. Tom Perez, I believe, is a man who wants to do the right thing, even if we might disagree about particulars. And nothing could be more right and just than making it perfectly clear to everyone — through action, not a press release — that the Department is willing to enforce all the voting laws and protect all victims of racial discrimination.

I’ll be watching and reporting at Pajamas Media on a number of matters where perfect opportunities for redemption are within reach for Perez to undo the damage that Rosenbaum, King, and Fernandes have done to Obama’s vision of a Civil Rights Division committed to enforcing all of the laws with integrity.

So I started the conversation. It would be good if the Department of Justice did more than talk about a commitment to enforcing the Voting Rights Act in a race-neutral fashion.  America would prefer some action.

Your turn, General Holder.

J. Christian Adams is an election lawyer who served in the Voting Rights Section at the U.S. Department of Justice. His website is www.electionlawcenter.com.

[jazusamo]

BREAKING: Former DOJ Officials Stepping Forward to Support J. Christian Adams

excerpt:

During his tenure with the Department of Justice’s Voting Section, J. Christian Adams was a model attorney who vigorously enforced federal voting rights laws on behalf of all voters, without respect to race or ideology. Mr. Adams was also one of the most productive and successful voting attorneys in recent memory.

His victories include two cases on behalf of African-American voters under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, two cases on behalf of white voters under Section 2, and six cases on behalf of Hispanic voters under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. He also brought and won three cases on behalf of military voters. Having worked closely with Mr. Adams for several years, I can attest to the unsurpassed quality of his character, judgment, and commitment to the cause of civil rights on behalf of all Americans.

– Asheesh Agarwal

[kelly4c]

Thank God for this man and his commitment to truth and justice! Were it not for him we wouldn’t know the gov. is filled with not only tyrannts but lying, racist sob’s. I heard others are going to be stepping forward to!

[FroggyTheGremlim]

This is all tip of the iceberg. Racial connections among the Executive, The Justice(?) Dept, ACORN, NAACP, motor-voter, MSM outlets like the Atlanta Urinal, ...various other Democrap voter fraud organizations, ... have been buried for decades.

I believe that’s why the big hub-bub over Bush’s firing of those 9 attorneys caused such a stir among Dems - they refused to prosecute black voter fraud.

This is a cancer within our electoral system and must be excised.

[jazusamo]

Amen!

Chris Adams is doing a great service to Americans for stepping forward and bringing this to light.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks jazusamo.

I detailed specific instances of hostility being expressed towards a race-neutral enforcement of civil rights laws, and in particular laws regarding voting and elections. To the many that have experienced the hostility firsthand, denials of its existence seem preposterous.

[GOPJ]

Loretta King had the honor of introducing Attorney General Holder. She would subsequently participate in the dismissal of the New Black Panther voter intimidation case. And she said something astonishing in her introduction of the attorney general.

She exclaimed to the crowd:

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to go to work every day, and look up at the photos, and see that we now have two black men running the country.

The civil rights movement of the 60's was about equal rights before the law - it was about overcoming oppression and injustice. It was NEVER about wanting to "change out " the color of the oppressors.

Loretta King's racist comment shames the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

[jazusamo]

Loretta King's racist comment shames the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Well said!

It is good that Adams took King to task in this article and I applaud him for doing so. I believe Holder and others in DOJ realize now that Chris Adams is not going to back away from this.

[phillyfanatic]

God Bless Christian. Only Fox has put this man out front to explain his war against corruption in DOJ. When the MSM finally picks this up, his reputation will have been destroyed by the leftists in the WH and the media. Wait and see.

[GOPJ]

Despite the defendants waving a baton and yelling “you are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker,” Loretta King decided that a dismissal of nearly all of the case was the only available course of action. Alas, the worm has turned.

Wonder what the unbiased reaction of Loretta would have been if instead of the above racist comment, she heard of white defendants waving a baton and yelling, "you are about to be ruled by the white man, nigger,". Voter intimidation should be color blind... she should know that - again, she shames the memory...

[30Moves]

We will have to write this man into the history books when this is all over. I know true history will be written.

To have this man’s courage or the courage of Leda the lovely Iranian woman who knew she would die if she protested and she did.

I fear the fuel they have been pouring on this fire is about to erupt.

[jazusamo]

Another article from Main Justice.

Adams: ‘Lawless’ Civil Rights Division Dismissed Black Panther Case

excerpt:

~snip~

In testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, former trial attorney J. Christian Adams denounced the Justice Department for dismissing the Black Panthers case and vociferously denied media reports that he was “disgruntled” with the department.

“I was just promoted two weeks before I resigned, so I certainly was not disgruntled,” he said. “My personal views about things never had anything to do with what I did at the Voting Section. You mentioned being conservative. I think that’s pretty simplistic and juvenile.”

~snip~

Described as a “whistleblower” last week by Fox News, Adams also was praised by Republican Commissioner Todd Gaziano for his courage in testifying.

Gaziano, a senior fellow in legal studies at The Heritage Foundation, expressed concern over alleged comments made by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes regarding the administration’s position on civil rights suits against black defendants. Adams said that Fernandes instructed lawyers in the Voting Section not to file cases against racial minorities.

“I’m going to not only try to press the department to allow us to hear from Chris Coates, I’m going to seek a subpoena for Julie Fernandes as well,” he said.

Todd Gaziano is leading the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights inquiry into the New Black Panther Party case (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Gerald Reynolds questions former Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams. (photo by Channing Turner / Main Justice)

[rcrngroup]

I fear the fuel they have been pouring on this fire is about to erupt.

We can only hope so. It is long overdue. Thomas Jefferson -- "The soil of liberty must be watered now and then with the blood of tyrants and that of patriots". It is way past overdue at this time. Am Rev II

[justiceseeker93]

Do people really think that a Dem-controlled US Civil Rights Commission is going to go head to head with the Obama Justice Dept. on their handling of the New Black Panther case? Is anything substantive going to come out of this investigation?

[jazusamo]

The USCCR has a majority and is controlled by Repubs and they are the ones who have pushed this case and kept it alive.

[StAnDeliver]

"Imagine if in March 2013, the new political leadership of the Civil Rights Division were to introduce Attorney General Jeff Sessions, refer to the portrait of President Mitch Daniels, and say: 'What a relief it is to come to work every day and see we once again have two white men running the country.' Not only would the story be blasted on the front pages of the Washington Post..."

...but here as well. Daniels is a conservative-hating motard.

[SunkenCiv]

It reminds one of the old saying, “give ‘em enough rope...”

Zero and his fellow thugs haven’t endeared themselves to other Demwits. My guess is, the caucus will be raucus.

[Altura Ct.]

But foul history does not excuse foul impropriety.

Indeed and the foulest of all is the notion that whites have some sort of monopoly on racial interest or actions. That history is not full of all types of racial animosity emanating from blacks, Hispanics or what have you. That today especially all kinds of anti white crap & horrific violent crimes coming mostly from non whites is not only tolerated but completely ignored. Mr. Adams is the epitome of the naive, Pavlovian & myopic vision that is driving this nation to ultimate destruction. The Marxist have done all they need too because the people of this country all hellbent on jumping off the cliff for fear of being called names and acknowledging that race exist if but one factor of many. Detroit, NO, E St Louis, Zimbabwe, Haiti, South Africa and many other examples are not anomalies and all the platitudes and worshiping of MLK doesn't change that one iota.

[Candor7]

Well J Christian Adams and many who read this do not know that the racial comments of Ms. King indicate a culture of nationalist ( black power/ethnic nation/historical justice) socialist ( redistribute wealth by destroying economy)politics.

Thats right folks: NATIONALIST SOCIALIST........the pejorative term is fascism. AND YES IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.

This is what we are faced with, and it will be a fight to defeat them, and we will need the resolve to define who they really are to bring about their defeat.

Jonah Goldberg traces the development of Liberal Fascism accurately in his book. It is required reading.

[agere_contra]

Every affirmative action appointment in America is another kick to Martin Luther King’s genitals.

He would have hated what has been done in his name.