In May 2009, Holder's Department of Justice ended a civil suit originally brought by the
Bush administration against the
New Black Panther Party, its chairman, and two of its members for
voter intimidation due to their conduct during the 2008 election. Two members of the party had stood outside a polling station during the election in paramilitary uniforms, one of them carrying a billy club, and both shouted racial insults at white voters. Although none of the defendants appeared in court to contest the charges, the department of justice voluntarily dropped the charges against the party, its chairman, and one of the two members who had stood outside the polling station, and obtained a narrow injunction against the other. While the Department of Justice has contended that the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, several of its current and former members have stated that Holder's Department of Justice is unwilling to prosecute minorities for civil rights violations.
[63] This accusation has been made most notably by
J. Christian Adams, who in May 2010 resigned his post at the Department of Justice out of protest,
[64] and by his former supervisor
Christopher Coates.
[65]