DOJ School Board Memo Baseless.
House Republicans say there was “no legitimate basis” for Attorney General Merrick Garland’s directive instructing Justice Department divisions to coordinate with local law enforcement to probe school board threats.
“The Justice Department’s own documents demonstrate that there was no compelling nationwide law-enforcement justification for the Attorney General’s directive or the Department components’ execution thereof,” a Tuesday report by the Committee on the Judiciary read.
“After surveying local law enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country reported back to Main Justice that there was no legitimate law-enforcement basis for the Attorney General’s directive to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources to investigate school board-related threats.”
Garland’s memo, issued in October 2021, came than a week after the National School Board Association wrote the Biden administration about the threats to school officials and asked for help. Some school board meetings have devolved into shouting contests over issues such as how racial issues are taught, masks in schools, and COVID-19 vaccines and testing requirements.
In his memo, Garland said there had been “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”
Republicans say Garland went too far in issuing the directive and insisted he rescind it.
The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating the Biden administration’s use of law enforcement resources on local parents.
The report issued Tuesday also said a local attorney’s office reported that Garland’s directive was “very poorly received” and found it to be a “manufactured issue.”
“No one I spoke with in law enforcement seemed to think that there is a serious national threat directed at school boards, which gave the impression that our priorities are misapplied,” a local attorney’s office stated.
The FBI opened 25 probes into “school board threats,” none of which resulted in federal charges or arrests, the report said.
