Overview

• Documents obtained by America First Legal in July 2025 show internal DOJ emails detailing efforts to federalize responses to school board protests.
• On Oct. 1, 2021, associate deputy attorney general aide Kevin Chambers sought a “federal hook” to justify investigating parents after an NSBA letter compared them to domestic terrorists.
• Career attorneys in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division warned that most behavior cited was protected by the First Amendment and fell outside federal jurisdiction.
• The National School Boards Association initially urged federal action against parents before retracting its request amid backlash.
• The Supreme Court’s October 2024 refusal to hear a challenge left Garland’s 2021 memo in place, and no court has since revisited its legality.