Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was set to release a stilted, partisan report on the Justice Department's handling of the New Black Panther voter-intimidation case that relied largely on a story in the Weekly Standard -- written by anti-Muslim crusader Jennifer Rubin, although the Commission was -- unlike the Washington Post -- kind enough to angrily cite Ryan J. Reilly and my reporting on the issue, if only to dismiss it. The report characterized the period in which Bush-era Civil Rights Division head Bradley Schlozman broke civil-service laws with his politicized hiring as an issue of "ideological conflict," which is a little like saying Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner had a difference of opinion.
Two of the commissioners opposed to the investigation -- Democrat Arlan Melendez and Republican Abigail Thernstrom, weren't able to make it. So in order to get a quorum to approve the report, the conservative majority needed Democrat Michael Yaki to join in the vote. Instead, Yaki left in protest, postponing the vote until next week.
In case you like your pleasant surprises with extra irony, one of the conservative commissioners complained about the fact that the report had leaked to the media beforehand -- the report that mostly relied on anonymous leaks to a conservative media outlet.
