Jerrold Nadler

Nadler: Bush-Era DOJers Running 'Willie Horton Campaign' Against Civil Rights Division

Ryan J. Reilly | June 1, 2011, 2:15PM

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

Former Bush-era Justice Department employees are making a career out of running a "Willie Horton campaign" against the Obama administration's Civil Rights Division, Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Wednesday. The New York Democrat claimed the ex-DOJ employees were scaring people into thinking the administration is favoring minorities over white people.

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J. Christian Adams

Ex-DOJer: Friends Reminded Me Of Mother Teresa's Advice When I Resigned Over Black Panthers

Ryan J. Reilly | March 29, 2011, 1:35PM

J. Christian Adams, former Department of Justice attorney

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- Despite his constant criticism of his ex-employer, former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adams said this weekend that he developed a "tight camaraderie" with employees in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who were "not insane."

It was when he spoke to those friends about his decision to resign from the Justice Department because of handling of an investigation into a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party that Adams said he was "reminded by [sic] a story of Mother Teresa."

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True The Vote

Tea Party-Backed Anti-Voter Fraud Effort Touts Non-Partisanship At First National Conference

Ryan J. Reilly | March 28, 2011, 3:25PM

Anita Moncrief and Christian Adams

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- When you talk about conservatives who rail against the supposed scourge of voter fraud and support voter identification laws that many expert say depress turnout among Democratic-leaning constituencies, there's a few big names that invariably come up.

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New Black Panthers

Holder: Rhetoric On New Black Panther Case Does 'Great Disservice' To Civil Rights History

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 3:20PM

Attorney General Eric Holder went up for his first round of hearings in the Republican-controlled House on Tuesday, where he faced questions over the Justice Department's handling of a two-year-old voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

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Eric Holder

GOPer Wolf Questions AG Holder On Allegations Of Politicized FOIA Process

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 11:20AM

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and DOJ Whistleblower J. Christian Adams

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) had his first shot at Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday, and he based his first question on a report on the handling of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests authored the ex-Justice Department "whistleblower" behind the controversial New Black Panther Party case. But Holder said he looked into the allegations made by former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adams and found there was "no ideological component to how we answer the requests."

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New Black Panthers

Breitbart, Adams Respond To Criticism Of Their Role In New Black Panther Case

January 29, 2011, 11:40AM

Former DOJ Official J Christian Adams and Andrew Breitbart

Two Democrats on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights say that J. Christian Adams, the former Justice Department lawyer at the heart of the scandal over the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case, isn't credible because he contributes to a "race-baiting" website run by conservative pundit Andrew Breitbart.

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voter fraud

True The Vote Signs Breitbart, Fund, Von Spakovsky For Voter Fraud Event

Ryan J. Reilly | January 25, 2011, 9:40AM

We already told you how True the Vote, the anti-voter fraud effort launched by a Texas Tea Party group, had lined up two of the biggest stars on the anti-voter fraud circuit for their upcoming national convention.

Now comes news they've added three of the biggest voter fraud alarmists in the country: Big Government founder Andrew Breitbart, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund and former Bush Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky.

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King Street Patriots

Tea Party Group Trots Out Anti-Voter Fraud All-Stars For National Effort

Ryan J. Reilly | January 24, 2011, 9:10AM

Anita Moncrief and Christian Adams

A Texas Tea Party group that critics said trained poll watchers who intimidated voters in neighborhoods with large minority populations last year is launching a nationwide effort to put an end to what they say is the massive problem of voter fraud.

True the Vote, an outgrowth of the King Street Patriots group, held a "Texas Summit" at the beginning of the month featuring prominent anti-voter fraud speakers J. Christian Adams (a former DOJ lawyer who resigned over its handling of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case) and Anita Moncrief, who was fired from the community organized group ACORN for allegedly misusing a credit card and then became a critic of the group.

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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Conservatives Subpoena More DOJ Officials In Black Panther Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2010, 3:20PM

Members of the New Black Panther Party, with Todd Gaziano (top) of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Justice Department lawyer Christopher Coates (bottom).

With less than two months left until the conservative majority of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights loses control of the agency, the Republican and libertarian members are hoping to breath new life into the controversy over the Justice Department's decision in the New Black Panther case by subpoenaing four more DOJ officials. The subpoenas -- first announced at a meeting on Friday -- show that depositions have been set up in mid-November, a TPMMuckraker review of the documents sent to the Justice Department shows.

The new subpoenas were sent to former acting Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Loretta King; her former deputy, Sam Hirsch; Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steve Rosenbaum, a career employee.

In an e-mail to the commissioners, DOJ's Director of Federal Programs Joseph H. ("Jody") Hunt accepted service of the subpoenas on behalf of the Department employees on Oct. 28. The Justice Department previously declined to comply with subpoenas issued by the commission on the issue and instructed two employees to ignore them (one DOJ employee quit and testified anyway, another stayed at DOJ but testified against their instructions). A DOJ spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new subpoenas.

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True The Vote

Tea Partiers and New Black Panthers To Square Off At Polls In Texas

Ryan J. Reilly | November 1, 2010, 1:15PM

Members of the New Black Panther Party, and a Tea Party rally.

Members of the fringe group the New Black Panther Party have announced they intend to be at the polls in Harris County, Texas tomorrow. So has the Tea Party-backed group True the Vote -- with more than 1,000 poll watchers, they say. Both sides have already traded accusations of voter intimidation -- but, despite all their press coverage, neither will likely play a deciding factor at the polls tomorrow.

The face off between poll watchers alleging massive voter fraud in Harris County and many voters in minority neighborhoods of Houston during the early voting period have already been racially tinged. New developments indicate it will only get worse.

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voter fraud

Tea Partiers Join Rep. Jackson Lee In Calling For Federal Election Monitors In TX

Ryan J. Reilly | October 29, 2010, 8:42AM

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Tea Party activists

It isn't often you'll see Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) and a Tea Party group agree on something. But that's just what happened on Thursday when a lawyer representing a Tea Party-backed True the Vote project wrote the Justice Department to request federal poll monitors come to Harris County, Texas.

Jackson Lee said on Thursday she is concerned about aggressive poll watchers, and requested that the Justice Department send in federal poll monitors to stop voter suppression.

Later on Thursday, the King Street Patriots' True the Vote project, which trained poll watchers in the county, requested the same thing.

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Commission On Civil Rights

Civil Rights Commission Chalks Ups Bush DOJ Illegal Hiring To 'Ideological Conflict'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 28, 2010, 3:48PM

J. Christian Adams and Christopher Coates

During the Bush administration, political leadership of the Civil Rights Division illegally made career hiring decisions based on ideology, a Justice Department report concluded. Bradley Schlozman was found to have violated federal law, referring to attorneys in the Voting Section as "mold spores," and hiring conservatives he dubbed "good Americans."

But in a draft of a report they will vote on tomorrow, the conservative-controlled U.S. Commission on Civil Rights -- which didn't seem to take an interest in those allegations a few years ago -- chalks those violations of law up to "ideological conflict."

If the press cared so much about the politicization that took place during the Bush administration, the report says, then reporters should be all over over the allegations against the Obama administration made by two individuals with ties to that politicization.

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RNLA

New Black Panther Case Served As Cash Cow For GOP Lawyers Group

Ryan J. Reilly | October 15, 2010, 2:55PM

DOJ Whistleblower J. Christian Adams

The Republican National Lawyers Association is running election training events in several states around the country. So where did they get their money?

Well, for one, by fundraising from Newsmax readers off the controversy over the Justice Department's handling of the voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

And who brought that case? J. Christian Adams, the former Justice Department lawyer who was hired by Bradley Schlozman, a former top official in the Bush administration's Civil Rights Division who was found to have politicized the hiring process.

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Pajamas Media

Pajamas Media Launches Anti-Voter Fraud Effort

Ryan J. Reilly | October 15, 2010, 9:53AM

Remember last year, when Pajamas Media gave Joe The Plumber a camera and sent him off to do some serious investigative work in Israel? Well, they're doing it again -- except this time instead of Joe the Plumber it'll be as many Pajamas Media readers as they can find, and instead of Israel it'll be every polling place where those readers suspect there might be voter fraud.

The conservative website announced the launch of a "Voter Fraud Watch" this week.

J. Christian Adams, the former Justice Department employee who quit the Civil Rights Division and testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the DOJ's handling of the New Black Panther Party case, has "agreed to lend his legal expertise" to Pajamas Media, where he is a contributor.

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MOVE Act

After Accusations Of Lax Enforcement, DOJ Sues New York Over Military Ballots

Rachel Slajda | October 13, 2010, 12:20PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

After being accused by Fox News, Sen. John Cornyn and New Black Panthers whistleblower J. Christian Adams of failing to enforce a new law meant to guarantee ballots for overseas military personnel, the Justice Department has sued New York for failing to comply with the law.

The MOVE Act, sponsored by Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), requires states to send absentee ballots to troops overseas at least 45 days before the general election, or by Sept. 18. Several states, including New York, applied for waivers. New York, for example, pleaded that its primary, on Sept. 14, was too late to meet the 45-day deadline.

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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Conservatives' Draft Letter: DOJ Hostile To 'Race-Neutral' Civil Rights Enforcement (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | October 7, 2010, 4:48PM

Todd Gaziano

The conservative block of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has prepared two letters to Attorney General Eric Holder, one of which charges that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is hostile to the "race-neutral enforcement of the civil rights laws."

While the conservative-dominated Commission's original goal for their 2010 Enforcement Report was to only focus on the Justice Department's handling of the civil voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party, they have now expanded the report they are preparing to focus on the "culture" within the Civil Rights Division.

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Civil Rights Commission

Bush-Era Voting Section Chief: DOJ Biased Against White People

Ryan J. Reilly | September 24, 2010, 12:32PM

Christopher Coates

The former chief of the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division says it was a "travesty on justice" for the DOJ not to allow attorneys to fully pursue a civil case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

Christopher Coates, now an assistant U.S. attorney in South Carolina, testified Friday at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing on the handling of the New Black Panther Party case. The conservative-dominated commission is preparing a report on how the DOJ handled the case and whether officials pursue the race-neutral enforcement of voting laws.

In his prepared testimony, Coates says there is a "hostility in the Civil Rights Division (CRD) and Voting Section toward the equal enforcement of some of the federal voting laws."

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New Black Panthers

Former Voting Chief Set To Testify As Conservatives Wrap Up New Black Panthers Report

Ryan J. Reilly | September 24, 2010, 9:55AM

Tom Perez, J. Christian Adams, and Christopher Coates

It's been 689 days since two men affiliated with a fringe group called the New Black Panther Party, one of them carrying a nightstick, stood outside of the a polling place dressed in military garb in an overwhelmingly African-American community in Philadelphia.

The conservative majority of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights had been prepared today to approve a report that observers expected would blast the Obama administration for the decision to drop the civil case against all but one of defendants, which was brought in the waning days of the Bush administration.

But mid-afternoon Wednesday, the former chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who signed off on the case, Chris Coates, sent this letter to the commission chairman stating that -- in defiance of the Justice Department's order -- he would like to appear before the panel.

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voter fraud

Adams Threatens 16 States With Lawsuits Over Voter Rolls

Rachel Slajda | September 14, 2010, 11:43AM

J. Christian Adams, former Department of Justice attorney

J. Christian Adams, the former DOJ lawyer at the heart of the New Black Panthers case, has sent letter to 16 states warning them that they are breaking voter law by not removing dead and ineligible voters from their rolls.

"I'm just interested in compliance with Section 8," Adams told TPMmuckraker yesterday, referring to the provision in the National Voter Registration Act -- known as the "motor voter law" -- which requires states to make a reasonable effort to remove ineligible voters from its registration lists.

"Voter fraud is not my concern," Adams said. "My concern is compliance."

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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Conservative Civil Rights Commission Asks Congress For Permission to Sue DOJ

Ryan J. Reilly | August 16, 2010, 6:15PM

Todd Gaziano

During a heated hearing on Friday, the conservative majority of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights approved a motion asking Congress to give it permission to sue the Justice Department if the department does not cooperate with USCCR subpoenas, including those in its probe of the handling of a civil case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

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J. Christian Adams

Adams: I Never Said Holder Is Disenfranchising Troops On Purpose

Rachel Slajda | August 3, 2010, 3:40PM

J. Christian Adams, former Department of Justice attorney

Former DOJ lawyer J. Christian Adams now says that he never meant to say the Obama administration was intentionally disenfranchising overseas troops.

In an interview today with TPMmuckraker, Adams -- who's also the driving force behind allegations of racial discrimination at the DOJ over the New Black Panthers case -- said he only meant that Justice Department bureaucrats don't feel like enforcing the law.

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Department of Justice

Admin Responds To Military Voters Smear Made By John Cornyn, J. Christian Adams

Rachel Slajda | August 2, 2010, 12:08PM

J. Christian Adams, former Department of Justice attorney

The Department of Justice has responded to claims made by Fox News, J. Christian Adams and Republican Sen. John Cornyn that it's intentionally trying to disenfranchise military voters.

In a letter to Cornyn, (via Greg Sargent) the DOJ says the accusations are "simply untrue."

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J. Christian Adams

Black Panther 'Whistleblower's' Latest Charge: Holder Hates The Troops

Rachel Slajda | July 29, 2010, 2:21PM

J. Christian Adams, former Department of Justice attorney

In its latest tale about how President Obama is out to attack all that is good and right about America, Fox News yesterday alleged that the Justice Department is now purposely disenfranchising America's troops, too.

The charges come originally from Sen. John Cornyn, courtesy of Fox resident ginner-upper J. Christian Adams -- the same Adams who's pushing allegations of racial favoritism against the DOJ.

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Commission On Civil Rights

Commission on Civil Rights: Protecting America From (Reverse) Racism

Rachel Slajda | July 28, 2010, 8:46AM

Gerald Reynolds, chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' investigation into the New Black Panthers case -- specifically, whether racial bias played a role in the Justice Department's decision to close the case -- is part of a pattern at the commission: A pattern of investigating almost exclusively, for lack of a better word, reverse racism.

The conservative majority on the commission, as well as former DOJ lawyer J. Christian Adams and much of the right-wing (including many Republican senators), believe that black members of the New Black Panther Party engaged in widespread intimidation of white voters on Election Day 2008. Further, according to Adams, the Obama administration is purposely dropping cases against black defendants in a blanket policy of pro-black racism.

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Senate Judiciary Committee

Judiciary Republicans Demand Probe Into New Black Panther Case

Rachel Slajda | July 26, 2010, 6:45PM

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee want a hearing to investigate how the Department of Justice handled allegations of voter intimidation made against the New Black Panther Party.

The minority, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, wants to look into allegations of racial bias within the DOJ. The charges come most vocally from J. Christian Adams, a former DOJ lawyer who says the Obama administration purposely drops cases against black defendants, including an NBPP member who stood outside a Philly polling station with a nightstick in 2008.

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New Black Panthers

Fox News Interviews The Head Of The New Black Panthers Party (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 9, 2010, 5:47PM

Fox's Megyn Kelly interviews Malik Zulu Shabazz

On Fox News this afternoon, permanently outraged anchor Megyn Kelly interviewed Malik Zulu Shabazz, the head of the New Black Panther Party, which is considered a black separatist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

It was, shall we say, heated.

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J. Christian Adams

Justice Department Lawyer Behind New Black Panther Case Resigns

Zachary Roth | May 19, 2010, 2:19PM

A Justice Department lawyer who was hired as part of a politicized process under the Bush administration, and who brought the controversial New Black Panther voter intimidation case, has resigned.

In a letter to DOJ Voting Rights chief Chris Herren, obtained by Main Justice, J. Christian Adams announced he'll step down next month, citing the controversy over the New Black Panther case.

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J. Christian Adams

Bush-Era DOJ-er Stoking New Black Panther Case

Zachary Roth | December 14, 2009, 3:18PM

J. Christian Adams

It was always going to take more than a few speeches by Eric Holder to clear out the rot of the Bush-Gonzales years at the Department of Justice. And sure enough, it looks like DOJ lawyers hired during the last administration are still making mischief for the current one.

Meet J. Christian Adams. He's the Civil Rights Division attorney who, according to Main Justice, helped bring that voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther party, stemming from an Election Day incident.

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