New Black Panther Party Case Update: E-mails Call into Question the DOJ’s Story

Hans von Spakovsky / September 20, 2010

Stunning new developments in the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voter-intimidation scandal indicate that high-level Justice Department officials have been misleading the public and Congress. Indeed, they may also have committed perjury before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Judicial Watch recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit requesting documents related to the case, and today it released a log produced by the Justice Department of e-mail communications and other documents that Justice is withholding from disclosure on purported privilege grounds.

The log details numerous discussions and legal deliberations between the Civil Rights Division and political appointees in the highest reaches of the Justice Department, including former deputy attorney general David Ogden and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli (the number-two and number-three officials under Eric Holder). Other documents show that Eric Holder was also briefed on how to respond to Hill inquiries. (more…)