Justice Department Inspector General Stripped of Investigative Power

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine (AP).

In response to a Republican lawmaker who requested a probe into dismissed complaints against the New Black Panther Party, the Justice Department's Inspector General said he has been unable to investigate because he lacks the authority.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine wrote in a four-page letter to Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia that Congress stripped him of the power to investigate all alleged wrongdoings within his department.

Wolf had asked for an investigation into what he claimed was an "unfounded dismissal" of complaints against the group.

The complaint accused the New Black Panther Party of voter intimidation during the 2008 presidential elections.

Fine wrote in his letter to Wolf that "unlike all other OIGs which have unlimited jurisdiction to investigate all allegations of waste, fraud or abuse within their agencies, the Department of Justice OIG does not."

"For several years, I have expressed my position that Congress should change this jurisdiction," Fine wrote.

Click here to read the letter.