You didn't hear this on the radio - DOJ dismissed Black Panther case due to pressure

At least I didn't hear it on the radio. I've had it on all morning as I do a cleanup in our travel trailer.  I've heard plenty about Stephen Colbert , John Conyers, of all people was the hero there.
Anyway, Gateway Pundit is on the ball with this post.

Obama Justice Department Accused of Racial Prejudice; Dismissed Case Due to Pressure From NAACP
by Jim Hoft

Christopher Coates, former voting chief for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division testified today before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The lawmaker accused the Obama Administration of racial prejudice. He told the commission that the Black Panther Voter Intimidation case was dismissed due to pressure from the NAACP.

Gateway quotes Fox news with this:
Coates discussed in depth the DOJ’s decision to dismiss intimidation charges against New Black Panther members who were videotaped outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008 dressed in military-style uniforms — one was brandishing a nightstick — and allegedly hurling racial slurs…

…He said civil rights attorneys stick to cases that involve minority victims, and he said the Black Panther case was dismissed following “pressure” by the NAACP and “anger” at the case within the Justice Department itself.

“That anger was the result of their deep-seated opposition to the equal enforcement of the Voting Rights Act against racial minorities and for the protection of white voters who have been discriminated against,” he said.

UPDATE:  Just read this on Instapundit:

DISTRACTION: So, yesterday reader John Mark Williams suggested that the Colbert testimony was intended to distract from coverage of Christopher Coates’ testimony about the Justice Department’s racism scandals. If so, it’s worked. Front page of Daily Caller: Colbert. Drudge led with Colbert until the news of the Klein & Zucker firings came out. Limbaugh led off today talking about Colbert. NRO has covered Colbert at The Corner, but not Coates. Washington Examiner headline: Colbert. Looking around other sites, I see more about Colbert than Coates. Hot Air and Power Line did better. 

It sounds about right to me.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights steps up on The Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case

According to the Weekly Standard:

...The USCCR is also taking a major role in the high-profile New Black Panther party (NBPP) voter intimidation case. On Election Day 2008, members of the NBPP were caught on video threatening voters at a Philadelphia polling station. Department of Justice lawyers investigated and were poised to enter a default against the NBPP and three individual members. In May, though, Obama administration officials dismissed the case without explanation. The decision enraged legal groups and Republican congressmen, forcing an investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). But no congressional hearings are forthcoming, and doubts about OPR's rigor and independence have been raised. Republican representative Frank Wolf says that he is "not so sure OPR is really digging": "They are not really talking to a lot of people and about a lot of things."

Into this breach has stepped the USCCR. It sent letters in June and August to Justice demanding to know the reasons for the dismissal and whether the department had changed its longstanding interpretation of the Voting Rights Act. The USCCR's concern goes beyond potential ethical violations by Obama appointees meddling with career attorneys' work, Reynolds explains. No one, he notes, would "seriously entertain the view that the Justice Department would have taken the same approach if we moved this out of Philadelphia, to the South with white men .  .  . in hoods, swinging billy clubs and saying 'This is a white man's world.' " The USCCR's interest, he explains, is in the "precedent": "I don't want any organization or group to point to the New Black Panther party controversy and say, 'We did the same exact things, and we want the same treatment.' "

It is a long article, read it all