By Jillian Schneider
This article was originally published by The Lion on September 28, 2023. Republished with permission.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to distance himself from the controversial memo branding parents as “domestic terrorists.”
In a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee on last week, Garland skirted questions from Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, about an infamous memo which referred to parents who protested school board meetings as “domestic terrorists.”
The memo in question was sent to President Biden from the National School Board Association (NSBA) in September 2021, prompting action from Garland’s DOJ.
Citing examples, wuch [sic] as receiving angry letters regarding mask mandates, the NSBA claimed “these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
Less than a week later, Garland sent a memo to the FBI and U.S. Attorneys on the same topic, albeit without the NSBA’s inflammatory language.
When the memos came to light, dozens of state school board associations distanced themselves from the NSBA’s actions, despite the national group’s apology. Other state associations left the national organization.
The scandal also implicated U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
But when pressed by Roy on whether his memo was rescinded, Garland refused to denounce it.
“There’s nothing to rescind,” Garland said. “The memo was intended to have meetings within 30 days… The 30 days have finished. Nothing has happened in more than a year and a half with respect to that.”
As a result of Garland’s memo, the FBI’s Counterterrorism and Criminal Divisions created a new “threat tag” for dozens of parents who were perceived as threats toward school officials.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is also Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, even said there is “specific evidence that federal law enforcement operationalized counterterrorism tools at the behest of a left-wing special interest group against concerned parents.”
The committee also questioned Garland about the Department of Justice’s anti-Catholic activity and the Biden family’s alleged crimes, which the AG also downplayed.
The Lion is the online news publication of the Herzog Foundation, covering a wide range of issues facing American families and culture, especially related to K-12 education. Subscribe to weekly updates at readlion.com.
What I don’t understand about all of this back and forth and getting nothing done about these issues is WHY? Why are these anti-American, anti-family, and anti-Constitutional people booted from their government positions by the People immediately? Scotus found that parents have the Constitutional right to direct the upbringing and education of their child and to do that, there will be disagreements at schoolboard meetings. By the way, who had the idea of school boards? And why hasn’t there been a LOT of protesting that ‘public education’ is a compulsory requirement by threat of imprisonment and loss of custody of your child? If they don’t want to deal with the parents, then don’t force them to participate in an education system that is failing in every area, that is clearly against the family unit and the morals that have guided this country since it was founded and before, and controlled by dept. put in place and used by the Federal Government to encroach on state authority. A government which has said 1) police are not required to protect students at school because they aren’t in a mental hospital and also denied the schools the same level of security that the higher ups in the government enjoy.
So, they want to call parents terrorists while they are part of the Biden administration which is doing its level best to control communication of the people in this country through social media and “disinformation boards”? One of the characteristics of a terrorist organization is their need to control communication and with it the flow of information. But people just continue to allow it to go on. People start petitions for any manner of things. Why not start one or two that people can sign that will show the idiot Garland that he really needs to repostion himself on this issue or get out.