DOJ Exposes Internal Revolt Over Garland's School-Board Memo

The Justice Department's Weaponization Working Group released a report Monday on former Attorney General Merrick Garland's October 4, 2021 school-board memo. The department says more than a dozen DOJ and FBI personnel raised concerns with the memo and its directive. One said "they might as well rename the damn thing the Anti-MAGA Task Force." Another called it "a partisan exercise aimed at those who do not support the Administration."

The memo claimed "in recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence." The report traces the memo's inspiration to a September 29, 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association to former President Joe Biden. That letter said such actions "could be equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes."

The memo set up a task force to find federal enforcement options, and the FBI opened 25 "Guardian assessments" on parents, the report says. The Working Group's conclusion is that the memo was the product of White House pressure.

Fox News reported the "Anti-MAGA" line came from a deputy assistant attorney general, and that some of the internal messages had been disclosed previously. Fox also noted some school board officials did receive online and written threats in 2021, which Garland's supporters cited. Parents who became the subject of a Guardian assessment will be offered a chance to review it, the department says. The majority of those assessments have been closed or discontinued.

The report answers two directives, the Justice Department says. President Trump signed Executive Order 14147 on January 20, 2025 to end the political weaponization of federal agencies, and former Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a review of the Garland memo on February 2, 2025. The memo itself went from Garland to the FBI Director, the head of the Criminal Division, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and the United States Attorneys, the department says. Earlier Monday, the department says, Justice Department and Department of Education leaders sent letters on parental rights to all 50 state attorneys general, and Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on X that the memo came at the urging of the National School Boards Association and White House officials.

Fox News laid out more of the internal pushback described in the report. An FBI counterterrorism official worried the domestic terrorist label could be applied to anyone who opposed a school board, and a Civil Rights Division attorney noted that much of the activity in question could be protected by the First Amendment, Fox reported. A Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the National Security Division said he saw no need for the task force, and an FBI lawyer said the DOJ put out its press release without coordinating with the bureau, according to Fox. Fox also reported that the National School Boards Association later apologized for the language in its letter to Biden. The DOJ says it will add a disclaimer to every Guardian assessment tied to the memo, noting the memo raised serious constitutional concerns.

Why it matters

The report and its exhibits let readers check whether federal threat work reached parents' protected speech.

Attorney General Todd Blanche says hundreds of exhibits and emails were released with the report.

These are the current DOJ's findings, not a court ruling.