Judicial Watch is suing the administration for Black Panther related records

Suit over White House involvement with Black Panthers

Quin Hillyer

Fresh off releasing documents proving the Obama/Holder Justice Department lied about political involvement in the decision to drop the voter-intimidation case against New Black Panthers, the public-interest organization Judicial Watch now is suing the administration for any records pertaining to meetings that DoJ official Thomas Perrelli attended at the White House during the time when the administration was abandoning most of the case.

The lawsuit seems to be entirely based on reporting that I and Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation did, independently of each other, both reports of which came out on January 19 of this year. Quoting from Judicial Watch's release:

Judicial Watch seeks the following documents through its FOIA request sent on January 19, 2010: 

“Any and all records of Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli concerning meetings with the White House on the Justice Department’s voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party.  The time frame for this request is from January 20, 2009 to June 15, 2009.”

On March 26, 2010, the DOJ informed Judicial Watch that it had conducted a search for documents, but found “no records responsive to your request.”  Judicial Watch appealed the decision on March 31, 2010, based on “various media accounts in which it was reported that Associate Attorney General Perrelli visited the White House on nine occasions between March 25, 2009, and May 27, 2009, to discuss Defendant’s voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party.”