During the 2008 election, a couple of members from the New Black Panther Party, not to be confused with the old Black Panther Party, who were a bunch of thugs masquerading as Marxists radicals, sat outside a polling station and tried their best to scare the Hell out of the voters.

One even had a billy-club and was shouting, “You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker!”

Here’s a nice video of the intimidation:

It’s pretty open and shut. But here’s what happened:

The Department of Justice filed suit, the New Black Panther Party did not deny the charges, the court entered a default judgment and department lawyers were preparing a list of sanctions. Instead, lawyers at the Civil Rights Division were ordered to drop the lawsuit against the party and all but one defendant (who got away with an injunction that would not prevent him from repeating the same violation in the future). This was among the first indications that Eric Holder would use the Department of Justice in a biased way (here are some others).

What gives? There is no reason whatsoever for the Justice Department to do what it did. None.

So why did it do it? That’s what people have been trying to figure out, and Rep. Frank Wolf wants to know why the Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine is sitting on his hands. Wolf fired off a letter asking why Fine was doing nothing.

Fine replied that there was nothing he could do. He was restricted from investigating the Justice Department:

In response to a Republican lawmaker who requested a probe into dismissed complaints against the New Black Panther Party, the Justice Department’s Inspector General said he has been unable to investigate because he lacks the authority.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine wrote in a four-page letter to Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia that Congress stripped him of the power to investigate all alleged wrongdoings within his department.

Congress stripped an IG of the power to investigate? What else does an IG do?

From the Department of Justice Inspector General webpage:

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducts independent investigations, audits, inspections, and special reviews of United States Department of Justice personnel and programs to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct, and to promote integrity, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in Department of Justice operations.

The DOJ IG has been effectively neutered.

Mr. Fine said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, that he understood Mr. Wolf’s desire to have his office review the matter “because of our independence.”

But while Mr. Fine had advocated expanding his jurisdiction to allow him to investigate all suspected wrongdoing within the department, Congress had not seen fit to do so.

“Unfortunately, unlike all other OIGs which have unlimited jurisdiction to investigate all allegations of waste, fraud or abuse within their agencies, the Department of Justice OIG does not,” he wrote. “For several years, I have expressed my position that Congress should change this jurisdiction.

My first question is what Congress did this? Followed closely by, why?

The order giving jurisdiction to investigate the actions of attorneys in the exercise of their legal authority – up to and including the attorney general – was first issued by Attorney General Janet Reno during the Clinton administration. The order was reissued by Attorney General John Ashcroft during President George W. Bush’s administration.

Because the order was later codified by Congress, it would require congressional action to change.

If you remember correctly, Clinton fired 93 attorneys in the Justice Department when he took over.

All 93 United States Attorneys knew they would be asked to step down, since all are Republican holdovers, and 16 have resigned so far. But the process generally takes much longer and had usually been carried out without the involvement of the Attorney General. Battles of the Past

Ms. Reno is under pressure to assert her control over appointments at the Justice Department.

Some of those lawyers were investigating friends of Clinton, and Clinton himself:

At the time, Jay Stephens, then U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, was investigating then Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, and was “within 30 days” of making a decision on an indictment. Mr. Rostenkowski, who was shepherding the Clinton’s economic program through Congress, eventually went to jail on mail fraud charges and was later pardoned by Mr. Clinton.

Also at the time, allegations concerning some of the Clintons’ Whitewater dealings were coming to a head. By dismissing all 93 U.S. Attorneys at once, the Clintons conveniently cleared the decks to appoint “Friend of Bill” Paula Casey as the U.S. Attorney for Little Rock. Ms. Casey never did bring any big Whitewater indictments, and she rejected information from another FOB, David Hale, on the business practices of the Arkansas elite including Mr. Clinton.

Seems interesting that he would then restrict Inspector Generals from investigating the lawyers he appointed.

Fine said in 2008, he told Congress he needed more oversight power. Congress ignored him. So we get where we are today, with thugs bearing weapons can intimidate voters and the candidate they supported does nothing to punish it, or discourage it.