Civil Rights Panel Subpoenas Justice Department in New Black Panthers Case

By Stephen Clark

 – FOXNews.com

The United States Civil Rights Commission, an eight-member agency that investigates accusations of discrimination, has launched a new offensive against a most unusual target: the Justice Department.

The commission is investigating why the Justice Department dropped charges in May against three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in a voter intimidation case that the government won.

The Justice Department has defended its actions, saying it obtained an injunction against one member while dismissing charges against the others “based on a careful assessment of the facts and the law.”

But that explanation hasn’t satisfied the commission or Republican lawmakers, who say the dismissal could lead to an escalation of voter intimidation.

Three members of the radical group were accused of trying to threaten voters and block poll and campaign workers by the threat of force in November 2008 — one even brandishing what prosecutors call a deadly weapon.

The three black panthers, Minister King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complaint in the final days of the Bush administration with violating the voter rights act by using coercion, threats and intimidation. Shabazz allegedly held a nightstick or baton that prosecutors said he pointed at people and menacingly tapped it. Prosecutors also say he “supports racially motivated violence against non-blacks and Jews.”

MORE…...foxnews.com/