House Republicans want 93 US attorneys to say how they'll enforce Justice memo on concerned parents

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have sent a letter to 93 U.S. attorneys requesting information about how they intend to execute Attorney General Merrick Garland's recent directive to mobilize the FBI and other law enforcement against "concerned" parents at school board meetings.

The lawmakers made the request in a letter Monday that follows Garland's Oct. 4 memo in which he gave attorneys general across the country 30 days to draft a "partnership" strategy with federal, state and local law enforcement to "identify" and "prosecute" what he called "disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against (public) school administrators, board members, teachers and staff."

Garland's memo, which he has defended twice before Congress, was in response to a letter in late-September from the National School Boards Association to President Biden stating that the "malice, violence, and threats" against school officials (by parents) "could be the equivalent of a form of domestic terrorism or hate crimes."

Though the association board has apologized for the letter, writing there was "no justification for some of the language,"  Garland has continued to stand by his resulting memo. 

The letter from House Republicans in part reads: "We're continuing to investigate the troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings and chill their protected First Amendment activity."

It goes on to say that parents have the "undisputed" right to take control of the direction of their children's educations, and if a given situation does deteriorate into violence, local law enforcement and state authorities are best suited to handle it.

Again emphasizing what has become the GOP refrain that "parents ... are not domestic terrorists," the letter also reads, "Concerned parents voicing their strong opposition to controversial curricula at local schools are not domestic terrorists. Parents have an undisputed right to direct the upbringing and education of their children"

It also argues that when parents cross the line to commit a violent act or issue a criminal threat, state and local authorities are best equipped to handle such violations of state law.