Will the feds go after George Zimmerman?

Now that George Zimmerman has been acquitted on murder and manslaughter charges for the killing of Trayvon Martin, activists are urging the Justice Department to file a case accusing Zimmerman, who is white and Latino, of violating the unarmed black teenager's civil rights. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday called Martin's death "unnecessary," and said he shared the concern of those upset over the verdict, promising that his department would review the evidence to see if civil rights charges were warranted.

Many Americans, convinced that Zimmerman stalked and confronted Martin because of his race, think the feds will go after Zimmerman. The NAACP posted an online petition demanding a federal civil rights case, and its website crashed as people rushed to sign. Elaine Radford at The Inquisitr says this is the logical next step.

Others say the Justice Department will take a careful look at the evidence — it has to, given the intense pressure — but in the end will decide against pursuing the case. Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post says, "A federal prosecution on civil rights charges would be a mistake; the state trial failed to show adequate evidence of racial animus to sustain such a case."

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Many legal experts say that even if the Justice Department does file a case, it can't win. Noah Feldman at Bloomberg News says it might seem open and shut — the law says it's a a federal crime to attack someone due to their race. "Yet how, exactly," he asks, "would the federal government prove Zimmerman’s motivation?"