Justice Department Report Details FBI Investigations of Parents After Garland

The US Justice Department has released a report detailing how the FBI assessed parents involved in school board disputes during the Biden administration, including 25 “Guardian assessments” opened following an October 2021 memorandum by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The report, prepared by the department’s Weaponization Working Group, examines how Garland’s memorandum was developed and implemented after a period of intense disputes between parents and school officials over education policies during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Working Group, the FBI assessments were part of an effort to identify federal avenues for investigating or prosecuting parents and other protesters who confronted school boards or officials. The report says internal Justice Department and FBI records show that more than a dozen officials expressed concerns about the memorandum, including warnings that it could create First Amendment problems and make the department appear politically motivated.

One FBI whistleblower cited in the report said a mother was investigated partly because she owned a gun and belonged to a “right-wing mom’s group”. The Working Group also identified internal messages describing the initiative as “ridiculous”, “confusing” and “very messy and political”, while some officials questioned whether the matters had any federal dimension.

The report traces the origins of the memorandum to a September 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association to President Joe Biden. The association had urged federal authorities to consider whether some conduct against school officials could constitute domestic terrorism or hate crimes.

Garland’s October 4, 2021 memorandum instructed the FBI and US Attorneys to work with federal, state and local law-enforcement authorities to address what he described at the time as a rise in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school administrators, teachers and school board members. It called for meetings across federal judicial districts and the creation of channels for reporting and assessing threats.

The new Working Group report, however, says the administration had been presented with limited evidence of actual violence or violent threats at school board meetings. It concludes that White House pressure played a role in the memorandum and that federal law enforcement was improperly drawn into disputes involving parents and schools. Those conclusions are the findings of the current Justice Department review.

The review was launched under President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to address what his administration describes as the political weaponisation of government. Attorney General Pam Bondi subsequently ordered a review of Garland’s memorandum.

The Justice Department said it will now offer parents and other school-board participants who were subjected to Guardian assessments under the memorandum an opportunity to review their files. It will also add a disclaimer to relevant assessments, noting the constitutional concerns raised by the Garland memorandum.

The department said it will review investigations conducted under the memorandum to determine whether constitutional rights were violated. Where violations are found, it said it may issue formal apologies and introduce additional internal safeguards.

The Justice Department is also providing 1.5 million US dollars to the National Association of School Resource Officers for training on parental rights, while additional funding will be prioritised for training teachers and school staff on parents’ First Amendment rights.

Source: FSX Business News