The former Justice Department attorney, J. Christian Adams, has said that Christopher Coates, head of the Voting Rights section at the time, could corroborate his allegations. But the Justice Department has blocked Coates from complying with a subpoena for his testimony.
An Independent member of the commission, Todd Gaziano, said "stonewalling of the Justice Department" means the commission "won't be able to make findings of facts," but members from both sides of the aisle agreed the investigation has uncovered a "larger issue" over whether the law allows the commission to take the Justice Department to court to enforce subpoenas.
"Are we an independent commission with the ability to make a determination as to what we deem to be relevant and important information that we want to review," Republican commissioner Ashley Taylor asked, "or are we a commission that can ask a question and when rebuffed must go away?"
Democrat Michael Yaki, though, said questions about the commission's authority and relevance go even further, when what is supposed to be an "independent" and "bipartisan" commission looking at civil rights issues across the country has "spent over a year and a half obssessing about whether or not there is some sort of kabal, conspiracy, culture at" the Justice Department and done "very little about what is going on in the outside world."
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