Under the leadership of Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the House Judiciary Committee sent out its first subpoenas, which targeted three of the Biden administration’s officials involved in a short-lived memo about dealing with threats against school board members.
The officials being subpoenaed include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, and follows Judiciary Republicans sending 100 letters about the 2021 memo.
When Garland signed the memo in October 2021, he explained that it was necessary because of a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” targeting school administrators, teachers, and board members.
Despite the memo having a little impact during its short tenure, Republicans have maintained their focus on the issue.
In the subpoena, the Committee asks that all communication between the subpoenaed entities and the National School Boards Association be shared after the NSBA first wrote to the DOJ asking for the Department’s assistance in dealing with a rise in threats.
Jordan has repeatedly claimed the memo was a way for the Biden administration to describe parents as domestic terrorists.
However, he admitted on a recent appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the FBI didn’t charge a single parent in connection with the directive.
But Jordan emphasized that “The chilling impact on the First Amendment free speech is what [Republicans] care about.”
Jordan also questioned how quickly the federal government moved setting up the memo, noting that five days after the Attorney General received the letter from the School board, Garland sent 101 U.S. attorneys’ offices.
