I’m sure the transfer was just routine, and had nothing to do with the case, and this was not about retaliation, right? Right? RIGHT?
The veteran Justice Department voting rights section chief who recommended going forward on a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party after they disrupted a Pennsylvania polling place in last year’s elections has been removed from his post and transferred to the U.S. attorney’s office in South Carolina.
Justice Department officials confirmed Monday that Christopher Coates, who signed off on the complaint’s filing in federal court in Philadelphia in January accusing the party and three of its members of civil rights violations, would begin his new assignment next month.
And what does Justice have to say?
Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler on Monday said that as a general policy, the department does not comment on personnel matters, but she said she could confirm that Mr. Coates continues to be a Justice employee and will begin an 18-month detail with the U.S. attorney’s office in South Carolina, beginning in January.
Ms. Schmaler also said the decision to move Mr. Coates to a new position within the department had nothing to do with the New Black Panther Party case but was the result of conversations Mr. Coates initiated with officials within the Civil Rights Division earlier this year.
She did not elaborate.
It will be interesting to see if Mr. Coates decides that he has something to say, himself, if it sinks in that the DOJ is playing games, and potentially retaliating against him for his recommendation. Perhaps he was making a pest of himself with the DOJ regarding the dropping of the charges, since it seems, according to the story, that he was highly respected within the voting rights department.
(Civil Rights Commission) Commissioner Todd Gaziano, a former Justice Department lawyer who served in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, said the dismissal had the potential to significantly change enforcement of the Voting Rights Act “for good or for bad.”
Good for Democrats, who love to cheat, bad for Republicans, who like to stop Democrat cheating.
Coates was one of the people involved in the Black Panthers case who was told by the DOJ to not cooperate with the CRC investigation.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU
[…] William Teach has the details of the curious story: I’m sure the transfer was just routine, and had nothing to do with the case, and this was not about retaliation, right? Right? RIGHT? […]