{"id":2597019,"date":"2026-04-30T09:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pardons-arent-enough-the-face-act-must-go\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T09:08:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:08:48","slug":"pardons-arent-enough-the-face-act-must-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pardons-arent-enough-the-face-act-must-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Pardons Aren&#8217;t Enough. The FACE Act Must Go"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpardons-arent-enough-the-face-act-must-go%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2597019&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The House Judiciary Subcommittee heard testimony that the Biden administration weaponized the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act against peaceful pro-life Americans. The thomas More Society argued the law should be fully repealed, citing cases such as Paul Vaughn, whose family home was raided after he participated in a prayerful pro-life gathering, and Mark Houck, who was arrested by federal agents despite later being acquitted of all charges.<\/p>\n<p>A DOJ report based on hundreds of thousands of internal records is described as documenting selective prosecution and coordination with abortion advocacy groups, including dossiers on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-perfect-ranking-from-planned-parenthood-5-what-to-find-out-about-biden-hhs-nominees-abortion-record\/\" title=\"\u2018A Perfect Ranking From Planned Parenthood\u2019: 5 WHAT TO FIND OUT ABOUT Biden HHS Nominee\u2019s ... Record\">pro-life individuals<\/a>. The text also claims meaningful sentencing disparities,with <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pro-lifers-could-face-11-years-in-prison-for-trying-to-protect-innocents-from-harm\/\" title=\"Pro...life advocates may ... up to 11 years in jail for defending the vulnerable from harm.\">pro-life defendants<\/a> facing longer average sentences<\/a> than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/peaceful-legal-ways-states-churches-and-pro-lifers-can-stop-abortion-radicals-violence\/\" title=\"..., Legal Ways States, Churches, And Pro...Lifers Can Stop ... Radicals\u2019 Violence\">pro-abortion defendants<\/a>,and notes that the FACE Act was not used against assaults on churches and pregnancy centers after *Dobbs*. It argues prosecutors targeted jurors and treated pro-life beliefs dismissively while pushing unusually severe charges-especially by pairing a FACE Act misdemeanor with a felony \u201cconspiracy against rights\u201d charge.<\/p>\n<p>Legally, the piece contends the FACE Act is unconstitutional as it improperly federalizes non-economic, intrastate conduct traditionally handled under state police powers, and it has become especially dangerous after the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in *Dobbs* removed the constitutional basis associated with *Roe* and *Casey*. The article emphasizes that even while a later presidential pardon ended some prosecutions, the structural constitutional problems remain and the law could be re-used by future administrations. It therefore urges Congress to repeal the FACE Act entirely, rather than rely on temporary political remedies.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government held a hearing this week on how the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the \u201cFACE Act,\u201d became a weapon against peaceful pro-life Americans under the Biden administration. The Thomas More Society, which defended many of those unjustly prosecuted under the law, testified in favor of full repeal. The hearing is long overdue. <\/p>\n<p>Paul Vaughn was up early, preparing for the day with his wife and their 11 children, when shouting and pounding shattered the quiet of a Tennessee morning. Before he understood what was happening, federal agents stormed his home, handcuffed him in front of his family, and took him away. His crime? Attending a peaceful pro-life gathering at an abortion facility, marked by prayer, hymn-singing, and cooperation with local police.  <\/p>\n<p>The Biden Department of Justice charged Vaughn with a misdemeanor violation of the FACE Act and stacked on the felony offense of \u201cconspiracy against rights,\u201d exposing him to ten years in federal prison, for praying. <\/p>\n<p>He was not alone. In Pennsylvania, Mark Houck, a Catholic father of seven, was charged under the FACE Act after a confrontation with a clinic escort while counseling with his 12-year-old son. Our attorneys at Thomas More Society offered to bring Houck in voluntarily \u2014 which the DOJ refused \u2014 precisely to\u00a0avoid what happened next.\u00a0Sixteen agents\u00a0in seven vehicles descended on the Houck home at dawn and arrested him in front of his wife and children.\u00a0He was put through the ordeal of a trial,\u00a0but the\u00a0jury acquitted him of every charge. <\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0process\u00a0was\u00a0the punishment. And that was the point. <\/p>\n<p>On April 14, the Department of Justice\u2019s Weaponization Working Group confirmed what these families had lived through: prosecutorial decisions driven not by victims or law enforcement, but by outside abortion advocacy organizations. <\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0nearly 900-page\u00a0report \u2014 drawn from more than 700,000 internal records \u2014 documents selective prosecution, coordination with abortion industry groups, and prosecutorial misconduct throughout Biden-era FACE Act enforcement. Among the findings was a 137-page dossier on pro-life individuals, including photographs of spouses and minor children, compiled by the National Abortion Federation and handed directly to government officials. <\/p>\n<p>The disparities are stark: Biden\u2019s DOJ sought sentences averaging\u00a026.8 months\u00a0for pro-life defendants, versus just 12.3 months for the handful of pro-abortion defendants charged \u2014 and despite widespread arson and vandalism targeting pregnancy centers and churches after <em>Dobbs<\/em>, brought not a single FACE Act case involving a house of worship, even though the law was written to protect them too.  <\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors\u00a0even\u00a0searched for ways to screen\u00a0out\u00a0Christian jurors and called pro-life beliefs \u201cculty.\u201d When\u00a0one of\u00a0my\u00a0Thomas More Society\u00a0colleagues\u00a0spoke publicly about the government\u2019s\u00a0misconduct, prosecutors fumed about\u00a0it. The\u00a0report\u00a0now\u00a0vindicates\u00a0every word. <\/p>\n<p>The FACE Act made this possible. And it could happen again. <\/p>\n<p>The FACE Act was enacted in 1994 in part to prohibit the use \u201cof force, threat of force, or physical obstruction\u201d that is intended to \u201cinjure, intimidate, or interfere with\u201d persons seeking to\u00a0obtain or provide\u00a0\u201creproductive health services.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Act serves only to federalize local conduct, inviting the abuse of centralized federal government power. It is unconstitutional, both on its face and as enforced by the Biden DOJ. <\/p>\n<p>Our Constitution leaves the \u201cpolice powers\u201d to the states. Although the Constitution grants the federal government no general police power, Congress claimed authority to pass the FACE Act under the Commerce Clause and under the Fourteenth Amendment, relying on <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> and <em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>In <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/em>, however, the Supreme Court decisively overruled <em>Roe<\/em> and <em>Casey<\/em>, holding that abortion is not a right \u201cprotected by any constitutional provision, including the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.\u201d That leaves the FACE Act hanging by the thinnest of threads: the Commerce Clause. Since\u00a0the FACE Act\u00a0was\u00a0enacted, the Supreme Court has significantly refined its Commerce\u00a0Clause jurisprudence. <\/p>\n<p>It is now clear that Congress may not criminalize non-economic, intrastate conduct simply by invoking \u201cinterstate commerce.\u201d The court has repeatedly held that Congress may regulate intrastate activity only when it is economic in nature and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-time-for-congress-to-get-rid-of-the-face-act\/\" title=\"It\u2019s Time for Congress to Get Rid of the ...\">substantially affects\u00a0interstate commerce<\/a>. Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, and nonviolent protest are not economic activity, nor do they\u00a0substantially affect\u00a0interstate commerce. <\/p>\n<p>The FACE Act becomes even more dangerous when prosecutors\u00a0combine\u00a0a\u00a0FACE Act\u00a0misdemeanor charge with the felony offense of \u201cconspiracy against rights,\u201d as they did in Paul Vaughn\u2019s case, openly disregarding the will of Congress. When Congress enacted FACE, it made an explicit and deliberate choice: a first-time offense involving exclusively nonviolent physical obstruction would be punished as a misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of\u00a0\u201cnot more than\u00a0six months.\u201d\u00a0That reflects Congress\u2019s considered judgment about the seriousness of such conduct and draws a clear line between violent criminal behavior and peaceful, if controversial, protest. <\/p>\n<p>By layering a felony conspiracy charge on top of the same conduct, prosecutors erase that line entirely. Nothing about the conduct changed;\u00a0only the prosecutor\u2019s charging decision\u00a0to pursue crippling penalties. That maneuver is an end-run around Congress, and a statute that\u00a0permits\u00a0such\u00a0punishment\u00a0inflation at the\u00a0discretion of\u00a0prosecutors\u00a0is far too dangerous to remain on the books. <\/p>\n<p>This is not a hypothetical danger.\u00a0Local law enforcement\u00a0found\u00a0that Paul\u00a0Vaughn\u00a0had\u00a0committed no crime, but the federal government turned on him.\u00a0Paul and his family endured years of investigation, prosecution, and relentless fear that a husband and father of 11 would be taken from them for a decade. He was convicted of a\u00a0federal\u00a0felony. Only a presidential pardon spared him. <\/p>\n<p>President\u00a0Trump thankfully pardoned\u00a0Paul and\u00a022\u00a0others\u00a0convicted\u00a0by Biden\u00a0under the FACE Act,\u00a0freeing\u00a0most of them from federal prisons. Trump\u2019s\u00a0DOJ\u00a0also\u00a0dismissed pending cases, fired the prosecutors most responsible for the injustice,\u00a0and restricted future enforcement to\u00a0extraordinary circumstances. But\u00a0pardons and firings, welcome as they are, cannot solve this permanently. A\u00a0future administration could\u00a0re-weaponize\u00a0the FACE Act\u00a0on day one.\u00a0And even if it is enforced evenhandedly, it\u00a0remains\u00a0unconstitutional.\u00a0Personnel changes\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0fix structural problems.   <\/p>\n<p>That is why we are encouraged that Congress\u00a0is once again\u00a0taking\u00a0up the effort to repeal the FACE Act entirely.\u00a0The families who lived through this abuse deserve accountability, not just the hope of a\u00a0pardon from the next sympathetic president.  <\/p>\n<p>If our constitutional system of separation of\u00a0powers is\u00a0to be preserved, the FACE Act must be repealed. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Andrew Bath is Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Thomas More Society.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The House Judiciary Subcommittee examined how the FACE Act became a weapon against peaceful pro-life Americans under Biden, hearing from the Thomas More Society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4272,"featured_media":2597020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screen-Shot-2026-04-28-at-8.43.58-PM-1024x575.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[33274,36352,38828,12559,32570],"class_list":["post-2597019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-civil-rights","tag-criminal-justice-reform","tag-face-act","tag-pardons","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screen-Shot-2026-04-28-at-8.43.58-PM-1024x575.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2597023,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597019\/revisions\/2597023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2597020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}