Newly released emails show that senior officials in the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) sought legal justification to investigate parents who protested school policies, after a controversial letter likened their actions to “domestic terrorism.”
The parents had spoken out against COVID-19 mandates, critical race theory, and “transgender” policies during local school board meetings.
The documents, obtained by America First Legal (AFL) and released July 18, show DOJ officials discussing how to respond to a September 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA).
In its letter, the NSBA urged the Biden administration to deploy federal law enforcement in response to what it described as threats from parents against school officials.
“The classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the NSBA wrote.
As DOJ officials weighed how to respond, then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers wrote in an Oct. 1, 2021, email to his colleague: “We’re aware.”
“[T]he challenge here is finding a federal hook,” Chambers added. “But WH has been in touch about whether we can assist in some form or fashion.”
Three days later, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI and US attorneys to coordinate efforts to address threats against school officials. The memo said that while policy debates are constitutionally protected, that protection does not cover threats or intimidation.
Despite evidence of coordination between the White House and the DOJ, Garland later told Republican lawmakers the department acted independently of the administration, according to FOX News.
A career attorney in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division cautioned in an Oct. 3 email that the conduct described in the NSBA letter did not appear to fall under federal jurisdiction.
“[I]t seems that we are ramping up an awful lot of federal manpower for what is currently non-federal conduct,” the attorney wrote. “It appears to me that the vast, vast majority of the behavior cited cannot be reached by federal law.”
The email disclosures sparked public backlash from several advocacy groups.
In a July 18 press release, AFL President Gene Hamilton said the emails show a “conspiracy that was ultimately aimed at depriving parents of two fundamental rights — the right to speak, and the right to direct the upbringing of their children.”
U.S. Parents Involved in Education (USPIE), an education advocacy group, also condemned the DOJ’s actions in a July 27 statement.
“Parents need to take note, trust their instincts, and stand up for their rights and for their children,” USPIE said. “This story shows that the government cannot be trusted. Given all we know now, it is hard to understand why anyone would send kids to government schools.”