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A Taste of the Future in Obama’s Justice Department
Expect more politically driven prosecutions and brazen denials of misconduct with Team Obama.
On October 1, three weeks before Nelson’s letter, lawyers from the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division indicted former congressional candidate Tan Nguyen for making “misleading statements to investigators” over a letter sent to Latino voters informing them that only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote. Nguyen was engaging in “legal political activities” and the letter is literally correct — both federal and state law require a voter to be a citizen to vote in federal and state elections. Yet Nguyen was indicted for his responses to FBI agents made during the investigation into the mailer. Mr. Nelson does not explain in his letter why the FBI and the Justice Department were investigating a candidate in the first place for perfectly legal behavior protected by the First Amendment. In fact, Mr. Nelson does not mention the indictment at all — I guess the indictment is a little too inconvenient for the phony claims made in his letter. The indictment itself proves the assertions made in my earlier postings.
Senator Graham also requested the Justice Department protect poll watchers and election monitors from intimidation and abuse as they serve their function inside the polls. In his response, Mr. Nelson agreed that “intimidation of poll watchers is a serious matter” and that the Justice Department “is committed to reviewing any complaints concerning intimidation of poll watchers.” If that is really the truth, then why is the Department not prosecuting the Black Panthers with night sticks — one of whom was a certified Obama poll watcher! — who engaged in obvious and clear-cut threats and intimidation at a polling place in Philadelphia on Election Day? They were even filmed by Fox News. Maybe the Department is looking into this, but if so, it has not been reported publicly and a very public prosecution is needed to deter this kind of notorious behavior.
Unfortunately, I am afraid that the Obama campaign’s pre-election attempts to generate criminal prosecutions of its political opponents by the Justice Department, which have been reported in numerous news sources, is a foretaste of what is to come. With Obama in control of the Department after January 20, we can all expect more outrageous prosecutions like the Nguyen indictment. Good business for criminal defense lawyers but bad precedent for the well-being of our democracy and the preservation of our political rights.
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The author is an attorney who specializes in election law. The author has requested anonymity to avoid being targeted by the Justice Department for prosecution like Tan Nguyen for exercising his First Amendment rights.
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32 Comments
1. TDelaney:The Justice Department is also in the tank for Obama. Lets watch it when he fires all 70 Federal Prosecutors just as Clinton did without so much as a whimper from the Main Stream Media. Remember that Bush tried to replace just a handfull of prosecutors which was his right and spent the next 4 years being investigated by that Windbag H Waxman. (some of the prosecutors ironically were being dismissed for lack of enforcement of voter fraud. How about that?)The voter fraud this year by Acorn and biased Secretarys of State was breathtaking but make no mistake. Our community organizer in chief is laying the foundation to steal elections for many years to come. I hope someone will have the nerve to report on this hijacking of our electoral system.
Nov 18, 2008 - 4:32 am 2. anonymous 2:thank you. thank you also to pajamas media for letting you post this anonymously, likely the way many will have to go in the next few years precisely because of what you highlighted.
sucking more and more for those who believe in being law abiding and playing by the rules.
Nov 18, 2008 - 5:02 am 3. RE:Trends seem to suggest that ‘progressives’ would like to lead us in retrogressing towards a society where the state is supreme – a combination of Orwell’s ‘1984‘ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World‘.
Huxley at least provided a place for free thinking people to find refuge. But given the tone and tenor of the Left, I don’t believe such a option is in their plan. They seem much more like modern day Jacobins, whose claim to fame is the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. At any rate, the war against individual liberty is on (and has been for some time).
The frog in a pot of heating water anecdote is very well known, but how many people who acknowledge it actually stop to consider that they them self just might be that storied frog?
Too few, I’m afraid.
Nov 18, 2008 - 5:48 am 4. fred:Let us remember that the Justice Department did nothing to investigate and prosecute those people in the federal government, whether appointed or elected, who were leaking classified information to the media about operations, methods, and events pertaining to our prosecution of war against the jihadis. For that matter, it would seem that President Bush didn’t push this thing enough.
Nov 18, 2008 - 6:28 am 5. RE:Another grossly under-reported disturbing trend is the redefinition (reclassification?) of crimes as felonies. This represents a seizure of sovereignty from the states and a greater concentration of power and control in Washington. It’s bad news.
Nov 18, 2008 - 6:38 am 6. anton:And the water is rapidly approaching boiling!
Nov 18, 2008 - 6:57 am 7. Susan Says:Of course we can all shed tears for the sullying of our Justice Department, but the real question is what is the fate of the Supreme Court under Obama’s administration? If that doesn’t make one weak in the knees, nothing will.
Nov 18, 2008 - 7:02 am 8. Scott Gunsaullus:The Obama Justice Department will have to work really hard to even come close to the laundry list of ethical and criminal misconduct that took place there under John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez.
Nov 18, 2008 - 7:09 am 9. tanstaafl:Congress has stalled ratification/approval of many of GW Bush’s appointments to federal judgeships, in some cases, the stalling has lasted for years, Congress failing to give an up or down vote, failing to give any vote at all.
Now BHO will have quite a slate of appointments to make.
Recollect that the first words out of Obama’s mouth when Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) asked him which Supreme Court justice he would not have appointed…”Clarence Thomas”.
The entire process of using appointments to judgeships as a political tool and winding up with clearly agenda driven judges who will gladly subvert their duty of interpretation of the law and “legislate from the bench”…is one of the more subtle and appalling nails in the coffin of our system of government. Colin Powell, the guy who endorsed BHO at the 11th hour (didn’t want to be left out of the DC social circuit) more or less admitted that he couldn’t bear any more Roberts or Alito type appointments to the SC (w/o naming them, of course).
Many of this go round’s Presidential contenders (especially the final two) seemed quite happy to ignore the nation’s immigration laws in the name of “compassion” or something. (I guess since Slick Bill got away with perjury in 2 cases, state and federal, “the law” doesn’t mean much anymore)
The Hispanic bar in the state of Arizona has gotten through a measure where legal documents can no longer describe someone arrested who is found to be in the country illegally as an “illegal immigrant”. What shall we call them now ? …”Our good friends from Mexico (unfortunately) caught with one hand in the cooky jar and one hand holding a gun” ?
Nov 18, 2008 - 7:32 am 10. Red Badger:….and people thought the Spanish Inquisition was bad……..
Nov 18, 2008 - 7:40 am 11. Kirk:People get the government they deserve. I think the trouble people are having is acknowledging how far the average American citizen has fallen. We’re so collectivly weak, powerful groups are taking everything from us and we bleat like sheep but do nothing. Our freedom, the collective wealth of the middle class, the wealth even of the next generation is being taken because our government is so corrupt its part of the assault, not our defense.
Very soon if you want to express opposition to the government, you’d better do it in the bathroom, with water running, like a cold war East German.
Nov 18, 2008 - 7:58 am 12. The Historian:SUICIDAL BIG BIASED MEDIA
Network television and print news outlets have put doctrine above profitability. They are in free fall as a result:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/big-biased-media.html
Nov 18, 2008 - 8:03 am 13. David Thomson:The politically correct U.S. Justice Department literally seems comparable to the Nazis or the Communists. There is little evidence that it has any interest in protecting the constitutional rights of the citizenry. This is especially true of those who are white and Republican. Please note the silence concerning the misbehavior of ACORN during the recent presidential contest and utter indifference towards the credit card fraud committed by the Obama campaign. Heads would most assuredly be rolling if the McCain people acted in a similar manner.
Nov 18, 2008 - 8:18 am 14. Whitey:I don’t get what the problem is. The justice department investigated this guy Tam Nguyen because of a letter he sent out. That’s not what he’s being prosecuted for, he’s being prosecuted for lying to the investigators. So this whole notion that the justice department is in the bag for Obama rest on this prosecution? you people are delusional.
Nov 18, 2008 - 8:25 am 15. Andrea:Thank you, I have been waiting for someone to mention this. Why hasn’t the voter fraud been mentioned since the election. And this intimidating Obama stuff that has been going on for a long time needs to be spoke of in public! I have seen enough movies and read enough accounts where the government takes over. The United States of America was not created to do that.
Nov 18, 2008 - 8:25 am 16. Peter the Sub Guy:14. Whitey wrote:
I don’t get what the problem is. The justice department investigated this guy Tam Nguyen because of a letter he sent out. That’s not what he’s being prosecuted for, he’s being prosecuted for lying to the investigators.
Peter replies: The whole thing you don’t get is that the letter should not have caused an investigation in the first place. And the so-called ‘lie’ the Rep is accused of committing is telling the investigators “I was not intimidating any voters.” But if you can be investigated for sending out a perfectly legal first ammendment approved letter to your constituents, then the investigators can assume it is for the purposes of intimidating voters and therefore, whatever you say is a lie.
If you own a blue car and a Federal investigastor decides your car is red, then when you tell the investigator your car is blue, you are lying in that investigato’s eyes, and should therefore be charged with a felony. It doesn’t matter that what you said was true by any other sense of the word, just that the investigator has decided you lied to him.
Funny how you can be charged with a ‘crime’ when being investigated for something that is not a crime, huh?
This whole incident is just the tip of the spear of what is to come in the next 4 years.
Nov 18, 2008 - 9:40 am 17. Peter the Sub Guy:14. Whitey wrote:
you people are delusional.
Peter responds:
Nov 18, 2008 - 10:49 am 18. nlcatter:And you are in denial.
Political Appointees are NOT “FIRED”
You GOpers are such MORONS!
Nov 18, 2008 - 11:13 am 19. Robert Hurley:There seems to be a whole lot of paranoia here
Nov 18, 2008 - 11:36 am 20. anonymous:Red Badger,
Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition.
But I expect the future to look more like this.
Nov 18, 2008 - 12:15 pm 21. Susan Says:Will Obama even need to use the Justice system? I’m thinking he was giving his street thugs, the Black Panthers, a trial run on election day. Did he ever disavow what they did? I never heard a peep did you? Of course all of this will only come to pass if we as Americans allow it to and stand idly by while freedom after freedom are stripped away. Are there any true patriots left willing to take a stand or are we all too milquetoast at this point.
Nov 18, 2008 - 12:26 pm 22. Robert Hurley:Susan Says – Please stick to the facts. Where is the connection between Obama and the Black Panters? There was one incident involving one Black Panther at a precinct in Philadelphia that went overwhelmingly for Obama and there was no connection with Obama. If you are going to make things up, at least be more inventive!
Nov 18, 2008 - 12:40 pm 23. Jim Baker:The flaw in the John Galt scenario is that there is no secret place to live here in Colorado. So, Ayn Rand, without a place to hide, what do we do about the looters now? I guess we will have to experience the whole cycle of government by coercion. As long as there are still crumbs to steal, most folks won’t care about liberty at all. Only when the lifestyle of the folks gets radically worse, will they turn on these collectivists. Until then, hide your property as best you can.
Nov 18, 2008 - 12:53 pm 24. Jason Sieckmann:You’ve got balls man, I’ll give it to you.
Remember Bush? Gonzalez? Who politicized the justice department first?
Be kidding me with this; seriously. If this is the fiction that the right intends to propagate over next four years; better fire your editors.
Nov 18, 2008 - 6:22 pm 25. GCA:Remember Clinton, the biggest influence peddler of all time, who fired all of the U.S. Attorneys? And his incompetent AG, Reno? Name one politically motivated prosecution by the Bush Justice Department.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of this post is that the author finds it necessary to remain anonymous. Did anyone on the left have any such fear of political retaliation during the last eight years? Don’t think so.
Nov 18, 2008 - 10:04 pm 26. Whitey:Peter the Sub Guy:
The issue was investigated because the letters bore Letterhead from the “California Coalition for Immigration Reform.” Obviously, some of the receipients felt intimidated and reported it. Because they were stupid enough to use his campaign’s bulk mailling registration number, investigators were led to him. When asked, Tan Nguyen lied to investigators denying that he sent out the letters.
The letter (pdf): http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2006/10/20document.pdf
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1324802.php
Nov 19, 2008 - 8:28 am 27. Steve P.:Red Badger: “….and people thought the Spanish Inquisition was bad……”
It was bad. Thousands of innocent people were mercilessly tortured and murdered by violent, crazed fundamentalist Christians simply for being liberal or refusing to betray their faiths.
Are you really comparing the Spanish Inquisition to an Obama Justice Department? Or are you just being glib? Or do you simply not understand that the fundamentalist nutcases that form the base of the Republican Party would love to usher in a new Inquisition if they had the oportunity?
If you want to talk about institutionalized leftists state-sponsored oppression, there are countless examples from which to draw. The Inquisition is not one of them.
Nov 19, 2008 - 1:46 pm 28. Steynian 286 « Free Canuckistan!:[...] A TASTE OF THE FUTURE in Obama’s Justice Department: Expect more politically driven prosecutions and brazen denials [...]
Nov 19, 2008 - 2:10 pm 29. Dave in Texas:While I”m not willing to go the ‘end of the world as we know it’ route, I do fear one thing–
We already know, because of constant leaking and lack of cooperation with Bush, that most if not all our federal agencies, INCLUDING law enforcement, are riddled with lefty bureaucrats who would like nothing better than permanent liberal power at the top.
It’s the narrow-shouldered, high voiced beta males, the weasels who backstab you while smiling at you, that I worry about. Blumenthal is the archetype. Emmanuel less so.
For these kinds of men, power is everything, and anything is permissible to get it and enhance it and keep it.
Obama thrives on being helped by ‘fellow travelers’, by people who believe what he believes and don’t have to be told what to do.
American traditions are expiring rapidly, and the left can’t wait to slam the door on those that remain.
Nov 20, 2008 - 9:21 am 30. first history:I don’t understand the fixation on Tan Nguyen (a small fish) when you are missimg the most obvious political persecution of Republicans–Senator Ted Stevens. His persecution for missing paperwork demonstrates the comtempt the Justice Department has for the Ameican people. By not supporting the President and the party, DOJ cost the Republicans a fine leader and America a true hero.
Nov 21, 2008 - 8:25 pm 31. Jeff:Obama’s Justice Department is going to mirror him and his leftist illuminati cabinet. It will be a bunch of back-stabbers who are only out for their own interests.
Nov 21, 2008 - 8:35 pm 32. Stengel Signs:Nevertheless, the article makes for interesting discussions on the whole anonymity issue of online teaching and learning, and I’m looking forward to hearing my students’ responses to this.
Nov 24, 2008 - 6:28 pm