NAACP: Justice must probe arrest threats against Texas Dems
The NAACP, one of the nations leading civil rights groups, is urging the Justice Department to investigate whether a federal crime was being committed when Texas Republicans threatened to have their Democratic colleagues arrested for refusing to attend a legislative session in an effort to try and block a sweeping elections overhaul bill that makes it harder to vote in the state.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson sent the letter late Wednesday to Kristen Clarke, who runs the Justice Departments civil rights division. In the letter, Johnson said he had conferred with at least three of the Democrats who had been threatened with arrest and agreed that federal authorities should step in to investigate.
At this time when political minorities are threatened with being rounded up and imprisoned in Texas, the eyes of the country and the world are upon DOJ and how it deals with Texass actions, Johnson wrote.