The conservative group Judicial Watch says it has documents proving active involvement by a DOJ civil mediation unit As the George Zimmerman trial wraps up in Sanford, Fla., with the jury readying to decide if he murdered 17-year-old Trayvon Martin or shot him in self-defense, the conservative group Judicial Watch is taking us back to the events that led to the trial in the first place.

1. The conservative group Judicial Watch says it has documents proving active involvement by a
DOJ civil mediation unit As the George Zimmerman trial wraps up in Sanford, Fla., with the jury
readying to decide if he murdered 17-year-old Trayvon Martin or shot him in self-defense, the
conservative group Judicial Watch is taking us back to the events that led to the trial in the first
place.
No, not the shooting death of Martin, as he was walking back to his father's apartment from the
7-Eleven. Rather, the national uproar that led to the arrest of Zimmerman, a month and a half
after Martin's death.
Judicial Watch said that it "has obtained documents in response to local, state, and federal
records requests revealing that a little-known unit of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the
Community Relations Service (CRS), was deployed to Sanford, Fla., following the Trayvon Martin
shooting to help organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman."
That's a pretty explosive charge. "Not only did we have a public statement by the President that
might have tainted the jury pool," says Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, "but now we find the
Department of Justice was involved in, basically, organizing a lynch mob?"

2. Here's what Judicial Watch obtained, among 347 pages of Justice Department documents:
March 25–27, 2012, CRS spent $674.14 upon being "deployed to Sanford, FL, to work marches,
demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen by a
neighborhood watch captain."
March 25–28, 2012, CRS spent $1,142.84 in Sanford "work marches, demonstrations, and rallies
related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen by a neighborhood watch
captain.
"March 30–April 1, 2012, CRS spent $892.55 in Sanford "to provide support for protest
deployment in Florida."
March 30–April 1, 2012, CRS spent an additional $751.60 in Sanford "to provide technical
assistance to the City of Sanford, event organizers, and law enforcement agencies for the march
and rally on March 31."
April 3–12, 2012, CRS spent $1,307.40 in Sanford "to provide technical assistance, conciliation,
and onsite mediation during demonstrations planned in Sanford."
April 11–12, 2012, CRS spent $552.35 in Sanford "to provide technical assistance for the
preparation of possible marches and rallies related to the fatal shooting of a 17 year old African
American male."

3. Along with the $5,320 in expenses racked up by the CRS, Judicial Watch also obtained
thousands of pages of emails from Florida officials, including an April 16, 2012, email from
Miami-Dade County community officer Amy Carswell congratulating the CRS team "for their
outstanding and ongoing efforts to reduce tensions and build bridges of understanding and
respect in Sanford, Florida."
Finally, Judicial Watch points to an April 15, 2012, Orlando Sentinel story that alerted the world
to the presence of CRS "secretive peacemakers" in Sanford. Here's how the Sentinel's Arelis R.
Hernández describes the CRS's activities:
As national figures and sign-waving protesters grabbed the spotlight after Trayvon's death,
federal workers from a little-known branch of the Department of Justice labored away behind
the scenes, quietly brokering deals between the city officials and residents to help prevent
violence and lay the groundwork for peace... City officials, local leaders and residents say these
peacekeepers have played a key role in easing tensions during some of the most heated
moments after Trayvon's shooting...
At every rally, community meeting and march, since the shooting, conciliators were there. In
their Navy blue windbreakers, polo shirts and dark sunglasses, they look like federal agents.
Their caps are embroidered with the Justice Department's seal. They watch and listen silently.
But they say little publicly. When reporters try to chat them up, they remain stoic, saying simply
they cannot talk to the media. [Orlando Sentinel]
The Judicial Watch documents add enough new information to the Sentinel story, says Ed
Morrissey at Hot Air, that Congress should at least "look into the DOJ's actions to determine
whether they were trying to calm the waters — or trying to bring them to a boil." From these
expense reports, it looks like "the CRS was more of a participant and organizer of the protests
than a mediator of them."
Is this really "another Obama administration scandal, featuring Eric Holder's DOJ?" asks John
Hinderaker at PowerLine. "To me, it doesn't look that way." Sure, it's probable that the CRS
"worked hand in glove with the protesters, but there is little reason to doubt that they at least
purported to carry out their statutory peacemaking role by working with all parties." The
biggest question from this episode, Hinderaker says, is "why are we taxpayers paying for a
goofy mediation service within the Department of Justice?"
Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh don't see that as the biggest question, says David
Weigel at Slate. "On the right, it's becoming conventional wisdom that the Justice Department
worked to bring down Zimmerman" for racially motivated reasons, and Judicial Watch's
narrative seems to fit the bill.

4. In fact, says Weigel, it undermines the charge that the Justice Department stirred the embers.
The media frenzy started building March 12, and things exploded March 23-24 when students
at 34 Miami schools walked out to protest Zimmerman not being arrested. Thanks to Judicial
Watch, we now know the CRS didn't step in until March 25. How you see the CRS involvement
in the Trayvon Martin ultimately depends on your political views:
If you think the government should materialize when some racial controversy starts boiling, you
have no problem with the CRS. But if you think Obama and Holder are habitual race-baiters, the
CRS's Sanford adventure fits into a pattern.