Rep. Roy leads effort to stop AG Garland’s weaponization of DOJ against concerned parents over CRT

On Thursday, following Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to mobilize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to silence parents and stifle dissent against teaching Critical Race Theory in schools, I led 30 of my House Republican colleagues in demanding that Garland rescind the directive and explain why he gave it in the first place.

“Calling upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate parents for conflicting views on controversial teachings and policies is a massive overreach of your role as the Attorney General,” we write in a letter to Garland. “Under no circumstance should your Department spend time and resources on investigations meant to intimidate American parents into silence.”

The letter calls for the immediate recission of the memo Garland sent earlier this week, while Garland is given until 20 OCT to brief Congress on the matter.

“Freedom of speech is one of the pillars of our country’s founding,” the letter concludes. “The DOJ should never be weaponized to curb this most foundational freedom.”

In May, I introduced legislation to block federal funding from schools that teach Critical Race Theory, saying: “There is no room for state-sanctioned racism anywhere in our society, and we must oppose it with all our might.”  

Full text of the letter is available at the link here and below:

The Honorable Merrick Garland

Attorney General

United States Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Garland,

We are deeply concerned by your recent announcement that you intend to mobilize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the “threat of violence against school administrators." Your decision comes after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a letter to President Biden referring to parents’ concerns regarding critical race theory in the classroom as “propaganda” and asserting that education leaders are being threatened by “domestic terrorism.”

The First Amendment protects the right of parents across the country to make their voices heard in opposition to school mask mandates and radical anti-American critical race theory.  This is not “domestic terrorism,” it is protected speech.  Calling upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate parents for conflicting views on controversial teachings and policies is a massive overreach of your role as the Attorney General.  Under no circumstance should your Department spend time and resources on investigations meant to intimidate American parents into silence.

Freedom of speech is one of the pillars of our country’s founding. The DOJ should never be weaponized to curb this most foundational freedom. Therefore – and without any information on true threats of federal concern – we request that you immediately rescind your directive and provide a briefing to Members of Congress by October 20, 2021 on why this decision to attack parents was made.