DOJ attorney Coates, “a true member of the team,” spotted at meeting of conservative organization

Justice Department attorney Christopher Coates, whose testimony was used to revive the phony New Black Panther Party scandal, was reportedly spotted by Talking Points Memo at a meeting of the conservative Federalist Society on November 18. According to TPM:

TPM spotted Coates yesterday at a meeting of the conservative Federalist Society at the Mayflower hotel in D.C. He said he was still working for the U.S. Attorney's office in South Carolina on a detail from the Justice Department. He said he had a lot of family in the area, but wasn't sure what he would do once his one year detail came to an end early next year. Coates said he couldn't comment on the commission's vote on the report. He had previously testified that he believed the Civil Rights Division was opposed to the race-neutral enforcement of the law.

As Media Matters has documented, Bradley Schlozman, a Bush appointee to the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department who advocated hiring conservatives, called Coates “a true member of the team.” Now that Coates is attending Federalist Society events, that would seem to be accurate.