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DEL.ICIO.USLewis: His heroes once were Justice Department lawyers, but not anymore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. John Lewis went before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, tying the disarray in the U.S. Justice Department to Georgia’s voter ID law.
Here’s the gist of his printed remarks:
“During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, we knew that individuals in the Department of Justice were people who we could call any time of day or night….
“And we felt during those years that the civil rights division of the Department of Justice was more than a sympathetic referee, it was on the side of justice, on the side of fairness.
“During the movement, people looked to Washington for justice, for fairness, but today I’m not so sure that the great majority of individuals in the civil rights community can look to the division for that fairness….
“In the last few years we have lost more career civil rights lawyers than ever before. The new lawyers are being hired, for the first time in the division’s history, by political appointees, rather than career attorneys. It is not surprising that the division is hiring fewer lawyers with civil rights or voting rights backgrounds.
“There is also a clear shift in the types of cases being brought by the division. The division is neglecting traditional civil rights cases, and it appears to have given up on enforcing the Voting Rights Act all together. I am particularly disturbed by the way the civil rights division handled the Georgia voter ID law in 2005.
“It takes special people to enforce Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. There is always the potential for political interference. However, the Voting Rights Section has always been above partisanship and it has resisted attempts by other administrations to influence the outcome of cases.
“However, this was not the case with the Georgia law. The Georgia voter ID law would required voters to show a photo ID at the polls and would have disproportionately prevented minorities from voting in Georgia.
“The career attorneys found that the law violated the Voting Rights Act and recommended that it should be denied pre-clearance, but the career attorneys were overruled by the political appointees. This type of political influence — preventing the enforcement of our civil rights laws — is shameful and unacceptable. Thankfully a federal court saw the law for what it was — a poll tax — and struck it down.
“It is clear that the civil rights division of the Department of Justice has lost its way. The Civil Rights Division, once guardian of civil rights, has been so weakened that I do not recognize it. Congressional oversight could have prevented some of this. Freedom and equality are rights that are not simply achieved; they must be preserved each and every day. But, we have not been focused on protecting our rights, and therefore, we are watching them slip away….
“We must reverse the political hiring process and put the decisions back in the hands of the career professionals, who know what it takes to enforce our civil rights laws.
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By Wilford Ward
September 7, 2007 12:41 PM | Link to this
W. P. Ragsdale July 31, 2007 Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
RE: Why did we have to wait nine months, finally threatening, California Indian Agent, Clayton Gregory, with going to Washington before, he would release a simple trespass report promised to us, by W. P. Ragsdale, the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs?The report disclosed that Clayton Gregory and his assistants, have decided to violate Congressional mandates and interfere, delaying, the construction of a, sanctioned, $400 million dollar, gaming resort, on our trust property, motives, ranging from, personal gain, to that of duress, as recently, former Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, testified in April 2007, that members of Congress have personal stakes in California Native American’s $6 billion in gaming and $13 billion in oil revenues and are pressuring the B.I.A. to restrict competition and withhold Native American entitlements from these revenues, (Snyder Act) and give them to their political allies. The nearest Indian gaming was spearheaded and built by Senator Feinstein(D) and her husband and is extremely profitable but it is within sight, of our 72 acres. We would be willing to accept another comparable parcel but and Clay Gregory has yet to act on this detailed request, we filed with Senator Boxer. Senator Feinstein pulled her support and vows to stop us. Our Congressman, Mike Thompson(D), basically implied, our trustee, Clayton Gregory, was corrupt.
We request that you, as our trustee and representative, personally intervene and assist us and involve, Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in completing this mandated project. We request that you contact the Director of Indian gaming and have him act on our request (4-18-06) that a multi-state mega, perpetual, Indian lottery, be established, to benefit, those of Native American ancestry, who of today’s date are not enrolled with a reservation tribe. We also request you inform, our Governor to revise the compacts and instruct the California State Gambling Commissioner, to withdraw, not less than $45 million dollars annually, until, the requested lottery can be established, from the California Indian, $6 billion dollar gaming market, 2% reserve, held by the State, for members of non-gaming tribes and deposit it with our trustee, the Bureau of Indians Affairs, per capita to be, disbursed from this new Treasury account, annually, to the 100,000 individuals of, federally documented, California Indian ancestry, who of today’s date, have been denied enrollment or are not enrolled with a reservation tribe, no more than 1% of the proposed lottery residuals, to finance Native Americans settlements, including a $200 billion dollar Cobell award.
After dealing with six years of delays, we request, a letter of intent, signed by you and Secretary Kempthorne, verifying, tangible, B.I.A. support, of our mandated projects, be sent to us, registered mail, within 30 days, if we do not, we will request that the Department of Justice, recover the $800 million dollars lost, during Clayton Gregory and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein tenure and if necessary, arrest those involved. If the U.S. courts refuse to redress our grievances with due process or cannot locate an impartial jury, we will file charges with the United Nations and appeal to a country, with an extradition treaty, for discarding and defrauding, 100,000 federally documented California Native Americans. Please remember, we have been left, no other option and only request, what resembles fair.
Wilford James Ward Acting Tribal Chairman Potrero Tribe of Mission Indians
1875 Aspen Ct. McKinleyville CA 95519 Telephone (707) 839-4483
CC. Supreme Court Justices, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove, Chairman Bryon Dorgan, Senate, Chairman, Nick Rahall, House, Earl Devaney, Dirk Kempthorne, Carl Artman, Arlen Specter, U.N. enc. 50