Tipsheet

Good News: DOJ Report Clears DOJ Of Wrongdoing in New Black Panthers Case

Well, I guess this settles things:

The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has concluded an investigation finding that politics played no role in the handling of the New Black Panther Party case, which sparked a racially charged political fight.

After reviewing thousands of pages of internal e-mails and notes and conducting 44 interviews with department staff members, the OPR reported that “department attorneys did not commit professional misconduct or exercise poor judgment” and that the voter-intimidation case against the Panthers was dismissed on “a good faith assessment of the law” and “not influenced by the race of the defendants.”


Ed Morrissey lays the snark on thick:

Whew!  I’m glad that the DoJ got to the bottom of the allegations against the DoJ.  This must be how transparency works, right?  After all, the “good-faith assessment of the law” must have been of such good faith that it overrode a judgment that had already been entered by the court against the defendants, who didn’t even bother to show up to argue their case in court. And a “good-faith assessment” of this video certainly doesn’t lead to the conclusion that a reasonable person would have concluded that someone wearing paramilitary gear and brandishing a nightstick while challenging people approaching a polling place was committing voter intimidation … right?

Forget the sworn testimony of career DOJ attorney Christopher Coates.  Ignore J. Christian Adams' whistle-blowing.  And avert your eyes from the visual evidence:



Nothing to see here, folks.  The report says so.