Carr Joins Lawsuit Challenging Biden's Concealment of Records Involving Federal Intimidation Tactics Against Parents

ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr has joined a multistate lawsuit to force the Biden administration to release records relating to its attempts to intimidate parents from speaking out against issues concerning their child’s education. This lawsuit follows Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed last fall.

“The Biden administration is once again putting politics over policies and Georgia’s parents are paying the price,” said Carr. “Rather than admit to this coordinated attempt to suppress free speech, the President is doubling down on his efforts by refusing to comply with our requests for information. Parents deserve answers, and we will continue to stand with them by pursuing full transparency from those involved in carrying out this unjustifiable scheme.”

Specifically, the FOIA requests seek federal officials’ communications preceding an Oct. 4 memo from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) 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 sent to the Biden administration by the National School Boards Association (NSBA). That letter lamented the rise of parents pushing back against divisive ideologies, including critical race theory. It further suggested that protests by parents across the nation were rising to the level of "domestic terrorism.”

Facts then came to light suggesting that the NSBA and the White House worked together to concoct a false premise for targeting parents.

On Oct. 18, 2021, a 17-state coalition demanded that the Biden administration rescind its threat to use the FBI to monitor peacefully protesting parents of schoolchildren.

The NSBA eventually apologized for its language comparing parents to domestic terrorists, but the Biden administration has still not rescinded its threatening memo.

Besides the White House and DOJ, the lawsuit also names as defendants the U.S. Department of Education and its leader, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. 

In addition to Georgia, states participating in this lawsuit include Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Read the lawsuit here .