DOJ Lawyers Criticized Memo Targeting Parents as "Ridiculous" and "Political"
Internal emails reveal Justice Department attorneys expressed skepticism and derision regarding a directive to investigate parents protesting at school board meetings.
Top Justice Department lawyers described a directive to investigate parents protesting at school board meetings as "ridiculous" and "political," according to emails released Monday.
The communications from within Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco's office and the DOJ's criminal division suggest internal opposition to the administration's push to investigate parents following a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA).
One official in Monaco's office wrote on September 25, 2021, "This is ridiculous."
Other attorneys echoed this sentiment, with one stating on October 2, 2021, "It's like they've [sic] affirmatively trying to make this thing not work and look political."
Another official commented, "If they do this they might as well rename the damn thing the Anti-MAGA Task Force."
The effort to scrutinize parental protests followed a letter from NSBA CEO Chip Slaven to the Biden administration. In the letter, Slaven described parents protesting school policies and curriculum as posing an "immediate threat" to public schools and suggested that "acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials" could be classified as "a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes."
The emails were published by the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group and highlight internal concerns about the politicization of federal law enforcement actions.