A Republican-led panel on the House Judiciary Committee has found “no legitimate basis” for the Justice Department to use federal law enforcement to police concerned parents speaking their minds at local school board meetings.
“It appears, from these documents and the information received previously,” the report stated, “that the Administration’s actions were a political offensive meant to quell swelling discord over controversial education curricula and unpopular school board decisions.”
In October 2021, Garland issued a memorandum bringing together a coalition of federal and local law enforcement to address alleged “threats of violence” against teachers and school board members across the United States. In response to that memo, the FBI’s counterterrorism unit created the threat tag “EDUOFFICIALS,” and opened 25 of investigations into the activities of parent protesters.
Curiously, FBI has yet to arrest or prosecute anyone involved in those 25 cases, despite claims that K-12 educators were facing actual violent threats.
“According to the FBI, none of the school board-related investigations have resulted in federal arrests or charges,” the report noted, claiming that this highlights the real political motivations behind Garland’s actions.
“The use of these resources chills protected First Amendment activity as parents rightfully fear that their passionate advocacy for their children could result in a visit from federal law enforcement.”
Garland have since admitted that his memo was solely based on a letter sent to President Joe Biden by the National School Boards Association (NSBA), which characterized disruptions at school board meetings as “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crime.” Specifically, the NSBA urged the federal government to invoke counterterrorism laws like the Patriot Act to quell “angry mobs” of parents, who sought to hold school officials accountable for radical left-wing race and sex indoctrination, and for imposing harsh COVID-19 restrictions on their children.
“The NSBA shared the draft language of its letter with the White House, which apparently raised no concerns with the reference to counterterrorism tools of the inclusion of the Patriot Act in the letter,” the Republicans argued.
The Committee, headed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), has subpoenaed Garland, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and members of the NSBA over the course of its investigation. They’re still waiting for documents from Chip Slaven and Viola Garcia, senior NSBA officials who signed the letter to Biden.
“The Committee’s and the Select Subcommittee’s work is not complete. This oversight will continue as the Justice Department and the Education Department continue to produce responsive documents,” the Republicans said, adding that the FBI have only handed over 14 pages of documents.
In the wake of an overwhelming backlash following the “domestic terrorism” letter, the NSBA apologized for “some of the language included in the letter” but didn’t specify what language was inappropriate in retrospect. The halfhearted apology didn’t prevent dozens of state-level school board groups from ending their membership within the national organization.
Garland remains standing by his memo, disregarding repeated calls from Republican members of Congress to rescind it.
The Justice and Education Departments didn’t respond to request for comment.
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