Attorney General Merrick Garland testified on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and addressed a range of topics from the National School Board Association (NSBA) “Domestic Terrorist” letter, the ongoing situation in Afghanistan with regard to threats from Al-Qaeda, and constitutional rights of journalists.
It was the Attorney General’s memo, in response to the NSBA letter asking the Biden administration to investigate parents attending school board meetings, that drew the biggest fireworks between Garland the several Republican Senators.
After Senator John Ossof of Georiga questioned Garland about a variety of things, Senator Josh Hawley got his turn to press Garland over his memo which would allow Justice Department attorneys around the country to begin gathering information for possible prosecution of parents attending school board meetings for breaking a litany of federal anti-terrorism laws:
Garland was clearly ill-prepared to address this matter. Instead, he was covering the fact that he was likely inclined to issue the Justice Department memo for purely political reasons without actually investigating the incidents listed by the NSBA letter himself.
Had Garland done so, he perhaps would have learned more about the plight of Scott Smith, Loudoun County, Va., parent of the girl who was raped back in May by a boy wearing a skirt in the girl’s bathroom. That of course is why her father was at a school board meeting in June, to question the school board coverup of his daughter’s case, yet he wound up being arrested and became part of the basis for the NSBA memo.
Next up, Senator Ted Cruz took his turn, and the fireworks continued:
Garland, once again, unable to answer or choosing not to answer, seemed to carefully control everything he said to avoid the obvious truth that he allowed his agency to become a political tool of the Biden administration at the request of the NSBA.
Despite being called out and exposed, Garland continues to double down and defend his indefensible actions:
Garland claimed that the DOJ is not just concerned about school board officials, but a “rising tide” of violence against judges, prosecutors, election administrators, and others.
“The only thing the Justice Department is concerned about: violence and threats of violence,” he said.
The committee’s ranking member, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed that the DOJ memo had a “poisonous, chilling effect” on speech, as it specifically dealt with opposition to school board officials. When he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last week, Garland acknowledged the influence of the NSBA’s original letter, which cited instances including non-violent behavior that did not include threats, but that was deemed disruptive.
The NSBA had called for the use of measures including the PATRIOT Act, which is typically used to address terrorism. Their second letter said they “regret and apologize for the letter,” stating that “there was no justification for some of the language” that they had used.
“I assume you’re going to revoke your extremely divisive memo that you said was instigated because of that letter?” Grassley asked.
Garland defended the memo, claiming that it was a response “to concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct.”
Garland’s answers were contradictory in many ways. At one point, he seemed familiar with the contents of his own memo, at other times, he played dumb, not wanting to seem like he probably didn’t vet any of the contents of the memo before adding his signature. The issue seems like it should never have seen the light of day for the clear threat it creates from the federal government against concerned parents wishing to question their locally elected school board officials.
For all the ongoing Biden scandals, this issue hits close to home for any parent with a school-age child who may be unhappy with decisions made by their local school officials. If they organize on Facebook, send an email, or make a phone call, will they be flagged by a Justice Department attorney for conspiring to harass a school board member? The Attorney General never adequately answered that and seemed to speak against the contents of his own memo.
Thankfully there are Senators like Hawley and Cruz to stand up to the Biden administration’s attempt to silence parents.
