Earlier
this month, Attorney General Garland released a memo instructing DOJ employees
to respond to increasingly passionate school board meetings across the country.
That memo talks about working to stop violence and threats of violence, which
is fine. But unfortunately, the memo makes it sound like DOJ might go after
much more than that.
Over
the last year, school board meetings have turned from relatively calm local
affairs to often boisterous meetings that are seen across the country. This
began with parents who were upset about schools being closed last year well
after we learned they could safely reopen in spite of COVID-19. Then it grew to
include pushback against mask mandates for students and against school
districts adopting a curriculum known as critical race theory. There are many
parents across the country who are upset about these things, and that’s their
right.
Here’s
the issue. The Attorney General’s memo spoke of violence and threats of
violence. Make no mistake about it. Violence should never be used to get what
you want in politics. It’s illegal for a good reason. And making real, true
threats is illegal too. They scare people, and that’s not right. No one should
ever threaten someone with violence just because they’re angry about school
policy.
Unfortunately,
DOJ’s memo goes further than that. A person reading it might think a parent
can’t really speak his or her mind at school board meetings – that spirited
debate is not welcome – that very pointed and direct questions for educators
aren’t welcome – that deep disagreements aren’t welcome. Parents coming and
speaking to their local school boards is the essence of democracy. And
democracy includes passionate disagreement. If an elected official can’t handle
a passionate disagreement, then he or she shouldn’t go into politics in the
first place. That goes for the President, that goes for me and that goes for
every member on every school board in the country. Elected officials don’t go
crying to the FBI when constituents tell you how they’re really feeling.
If a
parent is passionately advocating for her child at a school board meeting, and
school officials tell her she’s out of line, the parent should not have to
worry that the FBI is going to pay her a visit at her home after that meeting. She
should not have to wonder whether the PATRIOT
Act is going to be used to investigate her. It should never even cross her
mind. If she does, then she might just stop talking altogether at the meeting.
This
is what’s known as a chilling effect and it’s a bad thing for democracies. It
should never happen. So, it is critically important for the Attorney General to
make very clear to everybody that, short of violence and making true threats of
violence, the federal government will have nothing to do with the crowds and
comments people make at school board meetings. All of my Republican colleagues
on the Senate Judiciary Committee and I sent a letter to the Attorney General
telling him to do just that. He should make clear to all Americans that, unless
there is physical violence or threats of physical violence, federal law
enforcement has nothing to do with local school board meetings.
