{"id":867747,"date":"2021-10-11T12:29:01","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T16:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=867747"},"modified":"2021-10-11T12:29:04","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T16:29:04","slug":"afl-urges-investigation-into-whether-garland-is-improperly-targeting-parents-with-schools-memo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/afl-urges-investigation-into-whether-garland-is-improperly-targeting-parents-with-schools-memo\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Urges Investigation Into Whether Garland Is Improperly Targeting Parents With Schools Memo"},"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\">26<\/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%2Fafl-urges-investigation-into-whether-garland-is-improperly-targeting-parents-with-schools-memo%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=867747&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--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Merrick-Garland-1-1.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>In response to Attorney General Merrick Garland\u2019s memo last week instructing FBI and other law enforcement to look into threats of violence against school officials and teachers, America First Legal (AFL) has sent a letter to the Inspector General urging him to investigate whether the Department of Justice is improperly targeting parents and their constitutional rights.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The letter, written by AFL Senior Counselor Reed Rubinstein, argues that parents have a constitutional right to voice their opinions about controversial issues such as mandatory masking, Critical Race Theory, and the acceptance of gender ideology.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>On this basis alone, the nationwide protests by parents against public school policies and practices\u2014regarding Critical Race Theory indoctrination; anti-religious and anti-family gender ideology; and\/or forced online education and mask mandates\u2014are entitled to the most robust federal constitutional protection,\u201d he <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.aflegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Garland-Memo-DOJ-IG-Request-10072021.pdf\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span>.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rubinstein argues that the Justice Department may be inappropriately taking actions to intimidate and push back against parents angry about school management and curriculum.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>Instead, the facts surrounding the Attorney General\u2019s Memorandum of October 4, 2021<\/span> <span>suggest the department may be committing federal law enforcement resources to inappropriately prevent parents from exercising constitutionally-protected rights and privileges,\u201d Rubinstein said.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Garland did not specifically name parents as the target of the increased law enforcement coordination in his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/ag\/page\/file\/1438986\/download\"><span>memo<\/span><\/a><span>, but was also similarly vague in specifying what specific threats that the DOJ was trying to address.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn <\/span><span>recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation<\/span><span>, <\/span><span>and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers<\/span><span>, <\/span><span>and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation\u2019s public schools,\u201d Garland said,&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He continued, \u201cWhile spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Garland\u2019s memo also announced that he would be working with the FBI to coordinate strategies to protect school board officials and teachers. His memo closely followed a letter by the National School Board Association to President Biden to address the increase in threats and harassment they say that teachers have been receiving in recent months.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, the AFL argued that Biden stakeholders were trying to get parents to back down from speaking out about policies at their children\u2019s schools. They<\/span><span>&nbsp;want Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate whether or not parents are being unfairly targeted by Garland\u2019s recent actions.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAt this point, the dangers inherent in the undue politicization of the department\u2019s criminal and civil law enforcement authorities, and in the corruption of the department\u2019s standard order and process, should be evident,\u201d Rubinstein said.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Several lawmakers at the state and national level have responded to Garland\u2019s memo, some saying that he is trying to silence parents critical of their children\u2019s schools.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY) sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/mcconnell-garland-crt-critical-race-theory-justice-department-fbi-parents-school-boards\">letter<\/a> to the attorney general last week voicing his concerns with the memo.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe memorandum purports to respond to a \u2018disturbing spike\u2019 in threats and harassment against these officials \u2013 although it\u2019s silent as to the supposed perpetrators or any actual predicates for this action,\u201d McConnel said.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAttorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation,\u201d Florida Governor Ron DeSantis <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovRonDeSantis\/status\/1445404713269215235\"><span>said,<\/span><\/a><span> \u201cFlorida will defend the free speech rights of its citizens and will not allow federal agents to squelch dissent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to Attorney General Merrick Garland\u2019s memo last week instructing FBI and other law enforcement to look into threats of violence against school officials and teachers, America First Legal &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-867747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867747","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}