Trio of GOP Reps Led By McCarthy Send Letter to AG Garland Requesting That He End Plans to ‘Target Concerned Parents at School Board Meetings’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), along with two other GOP House Reps, signed a letter that was sent to
Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting that he end plans to “target concerned parents at school board meetings.”

In the letter, which was also signed by U.S. House Reps Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the trio states, “We are requesting that you immediately retract your October 4th memo, and dissolve any plans to stand up to the superficial and unnecessary parents task force.”

“The Biden administration also owes every parent in America an apology, and a clear commitment to end this senseless harassment, intimidation, and targeting of parents,” the letter concludes.

The letter references how the School Board Association essentially retracted a previous letter that they had sent to President Joe Biden where they likened “parents to domestic terrorists.”

In a tweet where he shared the letter, McCarthy announced, “Dear Attorney General Garland: You must immediately dissolve your plans to stand up a DOJ task force to target concerned parents at school board meetings.”

Former White House Director of Communications Mercedes Schlapp seconded McCarthy’s call and replied, “DOJ needs to rescind the letter.”

DOJ needs to rescind the letter.

— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) October 26, 2021

Garland is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow and things could get pretty tense at that hearing.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke. who heads a division that was not responsible for the memo, was grilled by the committee’s Republicans about it when she was before the committee earlier this month.

U.S. Sen Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told Clarke that she believed that the DOJ’s approach was treating parents like
“domestic terrorists for daring to ask elected school board members questions about what is being taught to their children.”

Clarke defended Garland and the department during the hearing and stated, “While this is not an issue that the civil rights division handled, this is a memorandum issued by the attorney general. I know that the department is committed to ensuring robust civil discourse.”