DOJ sting targets Bobby Jindal and ignores the law http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/opinion/op-eds/2011/02/doj-sting-ta...

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Created Feb 24 2011 - 8:05pm

DOJ sting targets Bobby Jindal and ignores

the law
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Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department has targeted Gov. Bobby Jindal's, R-La.,
administration as part of a rushed investigation into whether Louisiana is complying with federal
voting laws. Undercover investigators have flooded the state to interview welfare recipients to
determine if state welfare offices are urging them to register to vote.

During a time when DOJ travel is purportedly frozen, these numerous DOJ staffers have been
deployed for days in New Orleans and around Louisiana trolling for stories of state officials
failing to urge welfare recipients to register to vote.

The DOJ will use the evidence collected from welfare recipients to support a lawsuit against
Jindal's administration under Section 7 of Motor Voter.

The "Motor Voter" law passed in 1993 contained an important congressional compromise.
Welfare and motor vehicle agencies would serve as voter registration offices, while states would
be obligated to conduct voter roll cleaning to purge ineligible felons and dead voters. The two
provisions act together as counterparts.

The Obama administration has refused to enforce the voter list integrity provisions while making
the welfare agency registration law their top priority.

DOJ Voting Section bureaucrats have been lurking outside welfare agencies in Louisiana trying
to collect evidence to sue the Jindal administration. When people leave the welfare offices,
investigators rush to interrogate them, asking if they were urged to register to vote. Sworn
declarations of welfare recipients are snapped up.

Motor Voter also requires military recruitment centers to offer voter registration. DOJ tends to
disregard recruitment centers in their undercover stings. Partisanship couldn't possibly be the
reason for the omission, could it?

Never mind that scandal-plagued DOJ political appointee Julie Fernandes announced to the
entire Voting Section in 2009 that the Obama DOJ would not enforce Section 8 of Motor Voter,
the list integrity provisions. The DOJ Civil Rights Division treats its jurisdiction like a legal buffet,
picking and choosing which laws are worthy of enforcement and which ones they don't like.

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DOJ sting targets Bobby Jindal and ignores the law http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/opinion/op-eds/2011/02/doj-sting-ta...

The Obama administration has decided to nullify the careful congressional compromise of 1993
simply because they disagree with it. The Bush DOJ enforced both Sections 7 and 8. But a new
gang is in charge with an attitude toward the separation of powers foreign to American legal
traditions.

Leftist activist groups like Project Vote have been deeply disappointed with Assistant Attorney
General Tom Perez. They don't like the paltry litigation caseload of his Voting Section,
especially after so much campaign bluster to "reopen the Civil Rights Division." Perez still
peddles this spin around the country, though the litigation docket renders it a laugh line.

So cue "Operation Sue Bobby Jindal."

Jindal and any other state executive sued by the DOJ Voting Section should recognize that the
Voting Section is a Potemkin litigation shop that wants opponents to think the odds are stacked
against them.

But very few lawyers in the Voting Section have ever litigated a case to judgment after trial, not
even in traffic court. They're just not as experienced as defendants might assume.

States should take note: This Voting Section is petrified of protracted and costly litigation. That
applies to both Louisiana and any other state targeted in the upcoming legislative redistricting.
For example, one lawyer was so rattled by the stress of a rare trial the lawyer stayed in a hotel
room through the trial instead of appearing in court.

If the DOJ dares to sue Louisiana, it will be a chance for Jindal to put Holder on trial instead.

Recall the testimony of former Voting Section chief Christopher Coates before the United States
Commission on Civil Rights. Coates testified that his Obama political bosses spiked eight Motor
Voter investigations of states that had severely corrupted voter rolls.

Americans have a right to know why the Obama DOJ is on a quest to enforce laws that register
likely political allies, but won't enforce laws to protect the integrity of American elections.

Jindal may soon get a chance to demand an answer.

J. Christian Adams served as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division and covers election law at
electionlawcenter.com.

Op Eds Bobby Jindall Department of Justice eric holder louisiana motor voter
new black panther party Thomas Perez voter registration Welfare

Source URL: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/02/doj-sting-targets-bobby-jindall-and-ignores-law

2 of 2 2/27/2011 9:21 PM