On Tuesday South Carolina officials announced they plan on filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for a December 2011 decision to block the state’s controversial voter ID law. In December, the DOJ rejected the state’s Voter ID law that would require voters to show a valid photo identification before voting because they said the law would prevent black people from voting.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said he will file a lawsuit within the next two weeks against the Justice Department in Washington D.C. district court. Fighting on behalf of them is former Voting Section Chief Christopher Coates, a lawyer who’s accused the DOJ of being biased agaisnt whites, reports Talking Points Memo.
Ryan Reily from TPM provides more details on Coates:
"Fighting on their behalf will be a former DOJ official who claimed that the Civil Rights Division is opposed to protecting the civil rights of whites and who defended the Bush-era politicalization of the division by Bradley Schlozman as an effort to ‘diversify.’
Former colleagues said that Coates had an ideological conversion after an African-American woman was chosen over him as deputy section chief in July of 2000. Schlozman, who was found to have hired lawyers for their conservative credentials and referred to liberals as "commies" and "mold spores," called Coates a "true member of the team."