Judicial Watch Sues FBI for Records about Controversial Garland Memo Targeting Parents

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for all FBI records related to the October 4, 2021, memorandum issued by Attorney General Garland targeting parents who objections to Critical Race Theory in schools (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:21-cv-03389)).

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) failed to respond to an October 6, 2021, FOIA request for:

All records related to the October 4, 2021 memorandum issued by Attorney General Garland titled “Partnership Among Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Law Enforcement to Address Threats Against School Administrators, Board Members, Teachers, and Staff.” This request includes, but is not limited to, all records related to any actions planned or taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in response to the memorandum, as well as all related records of communication between any official or employee of the FBI and any other individual or entity.

AG Garland testified that he based his memorandum off of a letter from the National School Board Association (NSBA) that labeled parents as “domestic terrorists.” The National School Boards Association later issued an apology for the letter. In November, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee questioned the completeness of Garland’s testimony.

“The Biden administration wants to target parents as ‘terrorists’ by abusing the FBI and DOJ to intimidate those who oppose the racist and anti-American Critical Race Theory agenda,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And now Judicial Watch had to file a federal FOIA lawsuit because the agencies are in cover-up mode over this shocking abuse of power.”

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