Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey was tapped to revitalize morale and restore integrity to a Justice Department purportedly lacking both.  He is a measured man with a dignified restraint.  Thus, when he decides to hit, his hits land harder.

He is hitting the Justice Department over the dismissal of the New Black Panther case, the racialist scandal that isn’t going away despite the work and wishes of Holder loyalists.

In an interview with Family Security Matters , Mukasey says:

“I think the handling of the New Black Panther Party case is something that seems deeply disturbing, and warrants either a full explanation, or a serious outside inquiry, possibly from Congress, or both.  Two members of the New Black Panther party were seen intimidating voters outside a poll in Philadelphia during the 2008 election, and a case against them resulted in a decision for the government, which the defendants did not contest.  A witness to the intimidation who had served as a highly civil rights lawyer at the Justice Department in the 1960’s, Bartle Bull, said that the defendants’ conduct was the most blatant kind of intimidation he had ever seen, including what he witnessed in Mississippi in the 1960’s.”

Mukasey helped restore integrity to the DOJ once before.   Perhaps he will be available again in 2013?  There is more at the article.

No need to fight a lost battle.

Appeal could erase stigma on village.

The Associated Press has this story about the controversy about where prison population should count in Mississippi for redistricting purposes.  It contains this error:

“And that opens the door for possible challenges of redistricting plans, which require approval of the U.S. Justice Department.”

This is not accurate.   Redistricting plans require approval of the DOJ, or, approval of the federal district court in D.C.  As has been widely reported, states should go straight to court instead of to the DOJ.

Forsyth County Election Director Rob Coffman under fire for illegal registrations, and more.

A curious article today in NOLA.com with this quote:

“The U.S. Justice Department generally has interpreted the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 to forbid reducing the number of districts where minority voters constitute a clear majority of residents. Tucker said attorneys from Justice’s Civil Rights Division don’t give explicit guidance in advance, but he said there was ‘zero chance’ that federal authorities would approve maps that reduce the number of majority-black districts. “

Hold on a second.  Zero chance?  What of the massive Katrina exodus out of the state?  What of natural retrogression?  Is Tucker just saying this, or was he told this?  One must presume the former because the latter would be contrary to the law and common sense.

“For years, New Yorkers in the military abroad have been inadvertently left out of the electoral process,” Cuomo said.  “This measure will rectify the discrepancy between New York state and federal laws regarding special elections.”

That’s not entirely true.  There was one instance where DOJ actually jumped in to protect military voters in a special election.

Here.

“Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department has targeted Gov. Bobby Jindal’s, R-La., administration as part of a rushed investigation into whether Louisiana is complying with federal voting laws. Undercover investigators have flooded the state to interview welfare recipients to determine if state welfare offices are urging them to register to vote.”

Full story here.

Patch.com.

“Port Chester Refuses to Heal”

“Hiring Rye Supervisor’s Brother to Fight DoJ: Nepotism?”

New York Times

The Washington Times covers Congressional reaction to DOJ’s failures in the 2010 election to protect military voters.