DOJ Lawyer Who Brought Black Panthers Case Resigns

DOJ Lawyer Who Brought Black Panthers Case Resigns
By Ryan J. Reilly | May 18, 2010 9:34 pm

The Justice Department trial attorney behind a controversial lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party has resigned, citing the way the DOJ handled the voter intimidation case and subsequent investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

J. Christian Adams, a lawyer with a history in conservative activism who was hired into a career position under a politicized process during the Bush administration, wrote in a May 14 letter to the chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division that he has incurred significant personal expense in connection with the Civil Rights Commission investigation.

Adams was subpoenaed by the commission to testify about the case, but the Justice Department refused to let him appear. Adams wrote that his expenses were incurred in “retaining a number of separate attorneys and firms regarding this subpoena in order to protect my interests and advise me about my personal legal obligation to comply with the subpoena.”