The Justice Department on Monday released a report concluding that a 2021 memo from then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on threats against school officials was the product of pressure from the Biden White House. The report says the memo went out even though career officials and political appointees inside the department had pushed back. The department also announced that parents who became subjects of FBI assessments opened because of the memo will be offered a chance to review those files.
The findings come from the department's Weaponization Working Group, and Attorney General Todd Blanche released them as "The 2026 Report to Expose the Weaponization of Government Against Parents in Schools." It says the memo grew out of pressure by senior leadership to support the National School Boards Association and "to bring federal pressure to bear on parents protesting school districts that had enacted certain policies." According to the department, the report fulfills a review that Pam Bondi ordered as attorney general and a report that President Donald Trump required in a January 2025 executive order on ending the political weaponization of federal agencies.
More than a dozen Justice Department and FBI employees raised concerns about the memo and its directive, according to the department. The comments it quotes include "ridiculous," "potentially dangerous ground," "very messy and political" and "nothing remotely federal." When an associate deputy attorney general told department lawyers he would circulate a draft memo from the attorney general, one replied, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." The report says career officials and political appointees initially questioned whether the request was constitutional, but the department moved ahead because of pressure from White House officials and leaders in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.
The department said the memo set up a task force to find federal enforcement options for investigating and prosecuting parents, and the FBI opened 25 preliminary files, known as Guardian assessments, on parents. It pointed to an FBI whistleblower's disclosure that a mother was investigated because she "is a gun owner" and belonged to a "right-wing mom's group."
Most of those assessments have been closed or discontinued, the department said. Those tied to the memo will now carry a disclaimer noting that it "raised serious constitutional concerns" and that any assessment resulting from it "should be read with caution." The department will also review the files of everyone investigated under the memo to determine whether their constitutional rights were violated. Where it finds a violation, it will issue a formal apology and institute internal controls as necessary to prevent a repeat. The announcement did not say when the reviews would be finished.
Through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the department is awarding $1.5 million to the National Association of School Resource Officers. The money will pay for training and technical assistance for school resource officers, with the goal of informing school employees about parents' rights. Its Office of Justice Programs is giving priority to funding that trains teachers and staff on parents' First Amendment rights and their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. The report followed letters that leaders of the Justice and Education departments sent earlier Monday to all 50 state attorneys general on parental rights.
Garland's memo, dated Oct. 4, 2021, cited "a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff." It directed the FBI, working with each U.S. attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state and local leaders within 30 days on strategies for addressing those threats. The memo came five days after the school boards association wrote to Biden asking for federal help. Its letter said acts of malice, violence and threats against public school officials could be "equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes." The association later apologized for the letter.
Garland defended the memo when Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee questioned him about it later that month. He said it was "aimed at violence and threats of violence" and that the department "supports and defends the First Amendment right of parents to complain as vociferously as they wish about the education of their children." He noted that the memo did not use the words domestic terrorism or Patriot Act, and said he could not imagine parents complaining about their children being "labeled as domestic terrorism." He also told the committee he had no contact with the White House before drafting the memo, Education Week reported.
An outside review commissioned by the school boards association in 2022 examined how its letter came about. It found that the group's interim executive director had been in touch with the White House in the weeks before the letter and had shared an advance copy with a senior White House policy adviser. The review found no evidence that the White House requested the letter, according to K-12 Dive.
The memo had drawn congressional scrutiny before. In 2023, an interim staff report from the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government found "the absence of a legitimate nationwide basis" for Garland's directive, according to The Federalist.