No wonder the New York Times refused to cover this story. And liberals who have been pooh-poohing the whole issue as a "distraction" are suddenly silent when it become obvious that the Obama Justice Department is playing politics with the law:

Interviews and government documents reviewed by The Washington Post show that the case tapped into deep divisions within the Justice Department that persist today over whether the agency should focus on protecting historically oppressed minorities or enforce laws without regard to race.

The dispute over the Panthers, and the Justice Department's handling of it, was politicized from the start, documents and interviews show. On Election Day, the issue was driven by Republican poll watchers and officials and a conservative Web site.

That decision to pull back the lawsuit caused conflicts so heated that trial team members at times threw memos in anger or cursed at supervisors.

The dismissals triggered outrage from conservatives and congressional Republicans, two internal Justice Department inquiries and the investigation by the conservative-controlled civil rights commission. The debate has thrust Eric H. Holder Jr., the nation's first African American attorney general and long the target of Republican attacks, into an unwelcome spotlight.

I guess the paper of record didn't see "deep divisions" in the civil rights division as newsworthy, nor the charge that politics took a backseat to the law.

But the GOP has noticed and there will almost certainly be investigations by relevant committees in congress if the Republicans take control of the House.