The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will not hold a meeting Friday to consider a draft report that blasts the Justice Department’s handling of a controversial voter-intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.
The panel is slated to meet again on Nov. 19, commission spokeswoman Lenore Ostrowsky told Main Justice Thursday. But the commission has not confirmed whether it plans to vote on the draft report at that meeting, the spokeswoman said. Ostrowsky said she wasn’t told why the meeting was canceled.
The conservative-led commission attempted last week to vote on the report, which alleges the DOJ did not fully cooperate with the body’s investigation into the government’s decision to dismiss most charges against members of the anti-white fringe group who wore military clothing as they stood outside a polling place in a black neighborhood in Philadelphia in November 2008. But Democratic Commissioner Michael Yaki, who would have made quorum, left the meeting room in protest before the body could vote on the report.
The body’s $173,653 investigation has received praise from Republicans, who have expressed concern about the DOJ’s decisions in the case.
