In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), Senate Republicans are calling for fresh hearings on the Justice Department’s handling of the New Black Panther Party case:

On July 6, 2010, J. Christian Adams, the lead DOJ attorney who prosecuted the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) for intimidating Philadelphia voters, testified before the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR). In sworn testimony, Mr. Adams confirmed that various political appointees overruled a unanimous recommendation by six career DOJ attorneys that prosecution of members of the NBPP should continue, Mr. Adams testified that within the DOJ Civil Rights Division, “not only was their open hostility toward equal enforcement in a colorblind way of the voting rights laws, but instructions were given in this regard.”
[. . .]
If these alarming allegations are true, the Civil Rights Division is actively engaged in widespread politicization and possible corruption. This Committee has a duty to investigate such serious allegations that strike at the heart of the Department’s integrity. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice continues to stonewall the USCCR by refusing to honor the subpoena issued for Christopher Coates, former chief of the Voting Rights Section. It is imperative that you schedule a hearing immediately so we can determine the validity of these claims and whether DOJ, as Mr. Adams testified, “abetted wrongdoers and abandoned law-abiding citizens.” Given the importance of this oversight matter, we believe that holding a hearing on this issue should take priority over other Committee business.