House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has told the Department of Justice (DOJ) to preserve all documents related to its controversial school board memo, signaling that Judiciary Republicans will focus on the issue if they retake the House.
Specifically, the NSBA was referencing an increasing number of parents across the United States attending school board meetings to voice their opposition to the content being taught their children—including controversial, Marxism-inspired critical race theory, left-wing positions on sexuality and gender, and, in some cases, even explicit or pornographic sexual images.
The NSBA proceeded to ask for federal assistance in dealing with these frustrated, outspoken parents—assistance that Attorney General Merrick Garland promptly provided.
In a letter to Garland obtained by The Epoch Times, Jordan and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the GOP ranking member on the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, demanded that Garland preserve all documents related to the controversial memo—suggesting that Republicans don’t mean to let the issue die if they take control again.
“Dear Attorney General Garland,” the letter began. “We are investigating the Biden Administration’s misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings.”
The two Republicans cited a DOJ memo from Oct. 4, 2021, in which Garland offered support and resources to law enforcement agencies against parents who complained. The lawmakers accused Garland of using the issue to “manufacture a pretext for the use of federal law-enforcement authorities against parents.”
“The American people, however, deserve much more accountability and transparency,” they wrote.
The two noted that a series of letters and requests for information sent to Garland have either gone unanswered or have received short replies that leave out crucial requested information.
“Parents voicing their concerns at school board meetings are not domestic terrorists,” Jordan and Johnson wrote. “Yet, your anti-parent directive remains in effect, and as a result, the threat of federal law enforcement continues to chill the First Amendment rights of American parents.”
The lawmakers noted their intention to pursue an investigation into the matter, calling it a “serious misuse of federal law-enforcement resources.” They resubmitted each request for information that they sent to Garland and asked for an answer by no later than Oct. 25, 2022.
Finally, the two congressmen gave Garland notice “to preserve all existing and future records and materials in your possession relating to the topics addressed in this letter,” and “to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry,” including text messages and emails.
One of Many Promised Probes
Jordan’s request represents only one of several probes that Republicans have vowed to pursue if they take the House.Since Democrats took control of the lower chamber in January 2021, they have orchestrated a probe into President Donald Trump’s actions on and leading up to the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally.
The House Jan. 6 Committee is almost exclusively chaired by Democrats. In a break from precedent, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to accept House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s choice to chair the GOP side of the committee. While the speaker technically has that authority, heretofore it has been standard for the minority party to appoint its own members.
After McCarthy appointed Jordan to head Republicans on the committee, Pelosi refused to allow it, citing concerns about the integrity of the investigation.
Instead, Pelosi appointed Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as ranking member of the committee. Only one other Republican, retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) is on the panel. Both lawmakers are virulent Trump critics, and GOP opponents of the committee have often painted its aims as little more than a “partisan witch hunt.”
By corollary, Republicans have promised a slew of investigations into Democrats if they take the House, as observers favor them to do.
These promised probes range from issues like Joe Biden’s role in his son’s business dealings with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to Pelosi’s role in leaving the U.S. Capitol unprepared in terms of security ahead of Jan. 6. Others have pushed for probes into or even the impeachment of Garland and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of security along the Southern border.
Because it is unlikely that Republicans will take enough seats in the Senate to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and because the White House will still be occupied by a Democrat, investigations in the House would be one of Republicans’ strongest political tools.
