Justice Department refuses to investigate

Justice Department refuses to investigate

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has decided not to investigate Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which had been accused by several U.S. senators of intimidating voters through its efforts to counter the Christian Coalition.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, welcomed the decisions and called on the senators to apologize.

“Each one of those senators owes Americans United an apology,” Lynn said in a statement. “With absolutely no evidence, these six men asked the top law enforcement official in the land to undertake a criminal investigation of my organization.”

The six Republican senators who wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno were Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Paul Coverdell of Georgia, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Don Nickles of Oklahoma and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.