There’s a new saga going on in Washington D.C. Back in September the National School Board Association sent a letter to President Biden, asking the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other other federal law enforcement entities to investigate parents who participated in protests or made threats at school board meetings across the country. United States Attorney General Merrick Garland has gone on record saying he didn’t know of any threats, but did read the NSBA letter. Meanwhile, high ranking FBI officials requested their field offices place a threat designation tag on parents that may contest school board officials at meetings. I spoke with John Malcolm with the Heritage Foundation, who recently wrote an article on this issue and shares an alarming concern that parents now have.
Typically, the wheels of justice turn slow. I was really moved by the fact that the NSBA letter came out on September the 29th and we see the Attorney General addressing the situation on October 4th. What are your thoughts on the quick move?
The NSBA has said they were in contact with the Department of Justice and the White House before they sent their letter. The White House requested the NSBA send a letter, so they would have some cover for why they were communicating. The fact that Attorney General Garland has activated the entire Department of Justice and the FBI to do something about this is frightening. The FBI has given the impression that they are motivated, at least in the upper echelons of the FBI, by partisan politics. The FBI needs to reassure parents that that is not what is happening here. Parents who want to show up and voice displeasure are scared by this, and education officials are not happy about those parents being there and complaining.
Have you heard any Justice Department official yet be able to articulate the source of this jurisdiction outlined in the national school boards association letter?
No, I have not. Federal jurisdiction can be quite broad. If a threat is communicated by email or the telephone, that can give a federal jurisdiction. There's questions about what federal crimes the FBI is investigating and whether there is a serious problem that warrants use of federal resources… the NSBA letter listed about a dozen newspaper articles talking about disruptions that occurred at school board meetings. Presumably, those incidents were handled effectively either by the school boards themselves, or by state and local authorities. Why does the federal government have to involve the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country?
Looking at the threat tag, it doesn’t seem like the FBI gave a lot of guidance as to what they’re actually considering to be a threat
That's right, and it’s created a chilling effect. The NSBA letter states that they have information about extremist groups showing up at school board meetings, but there’s no proof of that. School boards are unhappy parents are complaining and want to use the FBI to send a message to parents that if they show up and complain, the FBI may open a file on them.
