The Holder Justice Department: 'Disgusting and Shameful' Indeed

COMMENTARY

The Holder Justice Department: 'Disgusting and Shameful' Indeed

May 1, 2012 1 min read
COMMENTARY BY
Hans A. von Spakovsky

Election Law Reform Initiative Manager, Senior Legal Fellow

Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration.

Why have Texas, South Carolina, and other states that have passed common-sense voter-ID laws run into such dogged opposition from the Justice Department? One huge factor is the radical ideology and bias of the staff who work in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, as revealed in a new report from Christian Adams, a former Voting Section lawyer.

Adams highlights the Facebook page of one Stephanie Celandine Gyamfi, a supervisory DoJ civil-rights analyst responsible for reviewing voter-ID law submissions under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Here, one finds a post in which Ms. Byamfi expresses her utter contempt for Mississippi voters for approving a voter-ID referendum last November:

“Disgusting and shameful. Hey, that should replace the state motto: ‘Mississippi: Disgusting and Shameful’ . . . forget the Magnolia State motto.”

Sources say this same employee has 1) admitted to committing perjury in an open Inspector General investigation and 2) leaked confidential legal opinions and documents during the Bush administration.

Such outrageous behavior could easily get a lawyer disbarred. At a bare minimum, Ms. Gyamfi should be disqualified from working on any Section 5 submissions, given her evident bias and misbehavior. Yet, instead of being disciplined or terminated, she has been treated as a hero by her fellow employees.

As long as the Justice Department turns a blind eye to unethical and biased behavior within its ranks, citizens can have no expectation of just treatment. Any state that submits its voter-ID law for administrative review by the Voting Section — instead of going straight to federal court in Washington — is making a very foolish mistake.

First Appeared in The National Review Online.

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