JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – On Friday, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt joined a coalition of 14 states in filing a lawsuit to force the Biden Administration to turn over records related to the crafting and decisions behind the administration’s memo that designated concerned parents who show up at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists.”
A multistate lawsuit led by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office asks a U.S. district court to force the Biden administration to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests filed last fall on behalf of Indiana and other states.
“Yet again, the Biden Administration is stonewalling the release of records – this time they’re refusing to even respond to Freedom of Information Act Requests by this coalition of attorneys general to determine exactly how the Biden Administration instructed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to surveil concerned parents as ‘domestic terrorists,’” said Attorney General Schmitt. “I led the way last year in demanding the Biden Administration immediately rescind their memo, and now I’m joining the call for answers on behalf of parents. Parents should have every right to voice concerns relating to their children’s education without the federal government labeling them as ‘domestic terrorists.’”
The FOIA requests seek federal officials’ communications preceding an Oct. 4 Department of Justice memo that called for FBI surveillance of parents expressing opinions at school board meetings and other forums.
In the Oct. 4 memo, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland parroted language from a Sept. 29 letter to the Biden administration from the National School Boards Association (NSBA). That letter lamented the rise of parents pushing back against divisive ideologies, including critical race theory (CRT). It further suggested that protests by parents across the nation were rising to the level of “domestic terrorism.”
Facts then came to light suggesting the NSBA and White House worked together all along to concoct a false premise for targeting parents.
On Oct. 18, a 17-state coalition including Missouri demanded that the Biden administration rescind its threat to sic the FBI on peacefully protesting parents of schoolchildren.
The NSBA eventually apologized for its language comparing parents to domestic terrorists, but the Biden administration has never rescinded its threatening memo.
Besides the White House and U.S. Department of Justice, the lawsuit also names as defendants the U.S. Department of Education and its leader, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
States participating in this lawsuit in addition to Missouri are Indiana, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
The lawsuit can be found here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/state-of-in-et-al-v-biden-et-al-complaint.pdf?sfvrsn=a2ddc66b_2