Bill O’Reilly vs. The New Black Panther Party

The Obama administration has been blamed in lots of different forums for its handling of a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

A decision to drop three of the four defendants in a civil action has been criticized, but some have also faulted the Justice Department for declining to pursue more serious criminal charges. Fox News pundits have cited it as evidence that the Obama Justice Department isn’t willing to pursue civil rights violations when they are committed by blacks.

“If it were just about the Panthers, the story would be meaningless,” Fox News” Bill O”Reilly wrote in an online column. “But because Attorney General Eric Holder is involved in the dismissal of the criminal charges, the situation takes on some importance.”

The decision to narrow the scope of the civil case was made during the Obama administration. But we traced the timeline back to when the call was made on criminal civil rights charges. That call was made during the Bush Administration. We rated the claim False. Read our extended report for the details.