Newly uncovered documents confirm what many Americans feared all along—that the Biden administration’s Department of Justice worked hand-in-glove with the White House and left-wing activists to weaponize federal law enforcement against everyday parents who dared to speak out at school board meetings.

The explosive internal communications, obtained by America First Legal (AFL) and reported by The Federalist, expose a deliberate and coordinated effort to silence dissent from parents opposing radical education policies like COVID mandates, critical race theory, and gender ideology.

Even more disturbing? DOJ officials knew the parents were protected by the First Amendment—and went after them anyway.

“We’re aware; the challenge here is finding a federal hook,” wrote Kevin Chambers, an associate deputy attorney general, in an October 1, 2021 email. “But WH has been in touch about whether we can assist in some form or fashion.”

That “WH” refers to the White House, which was already coordinating with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to draft a letter accusing parents of being “domestic terrorists”—a move widely viewed as a pretext to get DOJ involved.

From there, the internal panic only grew. DOJ career officials raised serious red flags, warning that the vast majority of cited “incidents” involved no threats or violence, just passionate citizens voicing their concerns—as is their constitutional right.

“Almost all of the language being used is protected by the First Amendment,” one DOJ attorney wrote.

“It appears to me that the vast, vast majority of the behavior cited cannot be reached by federal law.”

Yet, the Biden DOJ pressed forward. On October 4, 2021, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland issued his now-infamous memo, effectively mobilizing the FBI and federal prosecutors against American parents who had simply shown up to speak their minds at public school meetings.

Even Sparkle Sooknanan, then in the Associate Attorney General’s office and now a Biden-appointed federal judge, joined the backchannel effort, asking if the Civil Rights Division could help respond to the NSBA’s request for a federal crackdown.

One DOJ staffer even floated using the FACE Act—a law originally passed to protect abortion clinics—to go after parents who physically protested school board decisions.

According to AFL President Gene Hamilton, the entire scheme was “a coordinated effort… to deprive parents of two fundamental rights—the right to speak, and the right to direct the upbringing of their children.”

And it wasn’t just about suppressing dissent—it was blatantly political.

“They did so with political intentions,” Hamilton said. “Most immediately by attempting to influence the Virginia gubernatorial election, and to more broadly chill dissent across the United States.”

Indeed, the timing was no coincidence. As the Virginia governor’s race heated up in 2021, parents were rising up across the state—and the country. Viral videos of fed-up mothers and fathers taking on leftist school boards became a threat to Democrats’ control over education narratives and elections.

The Biden administration, desperate to silence them, did the unthinkable: they used the power of the federal government to try to shut parents down.

“It’s one of the most scandalous attempts to deprive Americans of their rights in the history of our republic,” said Ian Prior, senior advisor to AFL.

“Parents refused to surrender their rights—rights which are now being so forcefully defended and jealously guarded by the Trump Administration and vindicated by the United States Supreme Court.”

This chilling episode is a stark reminder of what happens when radical bureaucrats, activist groups, and a weaponized DOJ work in concert to crush dissent. Under President Trump’s leadership, that dangerous alliance is being dismantled—and parental rights are once again being put first.