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Dec. 25, 2021 - Epoch Times
21:04
School Boards Push DOJ to Treat Parents as ‘Domestic Terrorism’ When They Protest | Facts Matter
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Good evening.
As more and more parents across the entire country are going to their local school boards in order to protest critical race theory being taught to their kids, mask mandates, as well as enforced vaccinations, well, the school boards have responded.
How?
Well, the National School Board Association, they sent this letter right here to the Biden administration asking the federal government to treat these angry mobs of parents as domestic terrorists.
And based on this response letter right here from Merrick Garland, it looks like they will be doing just that.
Meanwhile, later this week, we will get the answer to a very pressing question.
And that question is, if you increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court, but you don't call it court packing, well then, is it really packing the court?
Well, let's go through that together.
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
And now let's begin today's discussion by talking a bit about the Supreme Court.
Now, you might remember that back in April, so six months ago now, Joe Biden issued Executive Order No.
14023, in which he established what's known as the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.
And among several other things, this commission is tasked with investigating the question of whether the number of justices on the Supreme Court should be increased.
And inside of that executive order, there is a deadline for when this commission should complete their report, and here's what it says.
And 180 days, which is approximately six months, is now here.
This commission is expected to submit their report sometime later this week or next week.
And so, ahead of that report, let's go through and get some of the context on the Supreme Court Commission.
And to do that, let's rewind time a little bit and go all the way back to April of this year.
Back then, four congressional Democrats introduced a bill in order to expand the Supreme Court and add four new justices.
That bill, it was called the Judiciary Act of 2021, and it would add four more justices to the bench.
And then you might ask, well, who would choose those new justices?
Well, naturally enough, according to the U.S. Constitution, it would of course be Joe Biden.
And back then, when they introduced this proposal, many people argued that this was an act of packing the court.
However, Mr.
Jerry Nadler, who is a Democrat congressman from New York, he had a very different take on it.
Here's specifically what he said.
We are not packing the Supreme Court.
We are unpacking it.
Now, what he's referring to there is the fact that President Trump was able to fill three Supreme Court seats, and at the moment, the conservative wing of the court has a 6-3 majority.
Here's how Senator Ed Markey, who is a Democrat from Massachusetts, here's how he described their proposal.
Republicans stole the Supreme Court's majority, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation completing their crime spree.
This legislation will restore the court's balance and public standing and begin to repair the damage done to our judiciary and democracy.
And when he said restoring the balance, he likely meant that if they were to add four new seats under Joe Biden, then the court would go from being 6-3 conservative to 7-6 liberal.
However, that proposal quickly faded away.
That's because even within the Democratic Party, this was not taken too well.
In fact, here is what Nancy Pelosi said on the matter all the way back in April.
And instead, she voiced her support for that commission that Joe Biden set up to study possible changes to the court.
However, she said that based on what that commission concludes, she is still open to the idea of increasing the number of justices.
Here's specifically what she added to her statement.
I don't know that that's a good idea or a bad idea.
It's a big step.
It's not out of the question.
It has been done before in the history of our country a long time ago.
And the growth of our country, the size of the country, the growth of our challenges in terms of the economy, etc., might necessitate such a thing.
And so, let's now discuss this commission.
Joe Biden signed that executive order that we mentioned earlier, and he created back in April the Supreme Court Commission, whose official purpose is to study possible reforms to the Supreme Court, including, as we mentioned earlier, whether or not to expand the number of justices, but also whether or not term limits should be set for the justices.
According to a statement, here's how the White House described this commission.
The Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States is comprised of a bipartisan group of experts on both the court and the court reform debate.
Furthermore, the White House described this new panel as consisting of former federal judges, lawyers who have argued in front of the Supreme Court, as well as what the White House called advocates for the reform of democratic institutions, Now, in total, over 30 people were named to this commission, with these two individuals being named the leaders.
That's Mr.
Robert Bauer and Ms.
Cristina Rodriguez, both of whom served as lawyers under the Obama administration.
And specifically, it's worth noting that Mr.
Robert Bauer, he has been a proponent of introducing term limits to the Supreme Court for quite a long time now.
In fact, all the way back in 2005, he wrote this on the matter in the Washington Post.
In our system of government, we normally constrain gray power with limits rather than license its indefinite exercise.
And by the way, just as an aside, if term limits are indeed imposed on Supreme Court justices, Well, that would be a change to the very Constitution of America.
However, let's set that aspect of it aside for a moment and discuss the most notable topic that's worth discussing, in my opinion at least, and that is the issue of increasing the number of justices, also known as court packing.
Although, according to Joe Biden, that's not what he's doing.
Here's what he said.
It's not about court packing.
There's a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated.
The last thing we need to do is to turn the Supreme Court into just a political football.
Whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want.
Presidents come and go.
Supreme Court justices stay for generations.
However, regardless of what name you give it, this commission has been for the past six months studying the possibility of increasing the number of justices, which is by definition the same thing as court packing.
And interestingly, one of the strongest opponents of court packing was Senator Joe Biden back in 1983.
Take a look.
President Roosevelt clearly had the right to send to the United States Senate and the United States Congress a proposal to pack the court.
It was totally within his right to do that.
He violated no law.
He was legalistically absolutely correct.
But it was a bonehead idea.
It was a terrible, terrible mistake to make, and it put in question, for an entire decade, the independence of the most significant body, including the Congress, in my view, the most significant body in this country, the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
Likewise, Senator Joe Biden was very consistent in this view.
In fact, here is a more recent video where he echoed a similar sentiment.
And remember this old adage about Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Corrupted by power, in my view, unveiled his court-packing plan.
He wanted to increase the number of justices to 15, allowing himself to nominate those additional judges.
He took an act of courage and the part of his own party, institutionally, to stand up against this power grab.
Furthermore, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who is a member of the liberal wing of the court, he was actually appointed by Bill Clinton, and he likewise warned against packing the court because it might erode its legitimacy.
Here's what he said.
Put abstractly, the court's power, like that of any tribunal, must depend upon the public's willingness to respect its decisions, even those with which they disagree and even when they believe a decision is seriously mistaken.
If the public sees judges as politicians in robes, its confidence in the courts and in the rule of law itself can only diminish.
And also, just as a bit of irony, this commission, as we mentioned earlier, is also studying the possibility of imposing term limits on justices, which is ironic, considering that Joe Biden, who established this committee, was sitting in Congress 38 years ago, as we just saw in that earlier video.
And so again, this 180 day deadline is coming up later this week.
And so we should expect to see that report from this commission coming up very soon.
And once it comes out, let's see what Joe Biden, as well as the Democrats in general, decide to do.
Now, interestingly enough, our sponsor for today's episode is actually directly related to the Supreme Court Commission.
And I will quickly introduce them from the conference room.
That's right, Roman.
Our sponsor today is very relevant to the topic that we're discussing, and that is First Liberty.
They are a Texas-based nonprofit law firm that focuses on defending religious freedom.
And what they're doing right now is that they're actually working on a petition.
They want a million signatures in order to send to the Supreme Court Commission and urge them to now recommend expanding the court beyond nine seats.
Currently, they have over 140,000 people who have signed...
By the way, we actually filmed this segment a few days ago, and so this number here, the number of people who have actually signed this petition, is now closer to half a million.
Including some big names, such as Edwin Meese, who is the former U.S. Attorney General, the president of the Family Research Council, The President of Concerned Women for America, among several other people.
And if you agree with that notion that the Supreme Court should not be expanded beyond nine justices, they want your signature as well.
So head on over to this website if you agree.
The link will be down in the description box below.
And consider signing as well.
And if you go on over to this website, if you hit on this learn button up here, Besides just signing the petition, you can actually learn a bit about the modern history of court packing for the last, let's say, about 100 years.
It's pretty interesting.
Me, myself, by the way, I am a journalist.
I don't have the luxury of an opinion on this subject matter.
However, if you believe that the court should not be packed beyond nine justices, consider going over to this website and signing this petition.
Again, the link will be down in the description box below.
Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
And now let's move on over and talk about school boards.
Imagine for a moment that one day your kid comes home from school and you look at him and you say, hey Billy, how was your day?
He looks up and he says, not bad, Dad.
Today we learned a little bit of math, we learned a little bit of science, and then we learned about how George Washington was a slave-owning white man who only established his country in order to hold on to power and to tyrannize oppressed minorities.
Now, to many of you who have kids either in elementary, middle, or high schools, then you know that this is not too far from reality, especially in certain school districts.
And it's exactly this fact, coupled with the mask mandates that are being implemented across the country, which has led parents across America to go into school board meetings and express their discontent.
And it's also led many families to stage protests as well, wherein they hold up signs denouncing critical race theory, as well as heavy-handed COVID restrictions.
Now you might look at the situation and you might say, okay, so the school boards likely disagree with these parents, but at least they have to hear them out.
I mean, it looks like disgruntled parents are present throughout the entire country.
However, it looks like the school boards are actually taking a slightly different approach.
That's because four days ago, Let me just repeat that.
They wrote this letter here addressed to the federal government asking the Biden administration to protect the school boards from angry mobs of parents and to characterize these protests as a form of domestic terrorism.
Here's specifically what they said in this letter on this point.
Quote, Now, in regards to this violence, malice, and threats that they mentioned in that sentence, the letter does give some specific examples.
For instance, it alleges that parents who wanted to express their opposition to mask mandates as well as vaccine policies, they worked to incite chaos during a school board meeting.
Here's what they said on this front.
Quote, In New Jersey, Ohio, and other states, anti-mask proponents are inciting chaos during board meetings.
In Virginia, an individual was arrested, another man was ticketed for trespassing, and a third person was hurt during a school board meeting discussion, distinguishing current curricula from critical race theory and regarding equity issues.
In other states, including Washington, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Tennessee, school boards have been confronted by angry mobs and forced to end meetings abruptly.
A resident in Alabama, who proclaimed himself as vaccine police, has called school administrators while filming himself on Facebook Live.
And by the way, if you have some time, I would highly recommend that you actually go and watch some of the highlights from these school board meetings for yourself.
You can find them online if you just type in school board meeting critical race theory or school board meeting mask mandate.
And once you actually watch some of them, you'll see that some of the accusations that are being made in this letter, they're not exactly what they appear to be.
For instance, when they mention that individual over in Virginia who was ticketed for trespassing, well, that's not exactly what happened, although it is what happened, but there's more to the story than that.
That the actual situation was significantly different than the simple sentence might lead you to believe.
What actually happened was that so many parents came to oppose critical race theory as well as the transgender policy that the school board members, they actually shut the whole thing down.
They shut down the meeting and had the local police declare the meeting to be an unlawful assembly.
And so the man who was ticketed, the man who is mentioned in this letter, here's how he described the situation in his own words.
When I am in a public forum, on public land, in a taxpayer publicly owned building, and invited to speak in a public forum, and then I'm arrested for trespassing, that's a problem there.
And unfortunately, even there, people continue to give ground to authoritarian intimidation.
Now that is of course just one case, but I would highly recommend that you actually go on over and watch those school board meetings for yourself, get both sides of the picture, and then make up your own mind as to what you believe.
Regardless, another claim that's made in this letter is that critical race theory is not actually being taught in schools, and that the only reason people think that critical race theory is being taught in schools is because of propaganda.
Here's what it says, quote, Now, frankly, this particular claim is not that believable, especially if you've been paying attention to the subject.
First of all, if you watch the school board meetings for yourself, you'll see that many of the parents who actually come up to speak, they give many very concrete examples of this type of curriculum being taught in their schools, being taught to their kids.
Examples like this one here, where a teacher in Minnesota was having his grade school students take a privilege quiz, and then he had the students hide that fact from their parents.
And second of all, there are both statements and actions from the teachers themselves.
For instance, just a few months ago, the largest teachers' union in all of America, which is the National Education Association, they scrubbed certain statements from their official websites.
Which statements?
Well, because it's the internet, things actually live forever, and we were able to find an archived version, and we were able to pull that statement that they tried to delete.
So take a look at the statement here and decide for yourself whether they're teaching critical race theory.
Under the heading, New Business Item 39, it says that they requested $127,600 in funding to share and publicize, quote, information already available on critical race theory and to create a study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-blackness,
anti-ingeneity, racism, patriarchy, cis-heteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, And again, that was not some fringe organization.
That was on the website of the largest teachers union in all of America.
Furthermore, during the summer, when many different red states were beginning to ban critical race theory from being taught in schools, over 5,000 educators, they signed a pledge to continue teaching critical race theory, even if it was outlawed.
And so again, the claim in this letter that critical race theory is not being taught in schools, and that it's only propaganda which says that it is, well, that appears to be untrue given the facts that we just mentioned.
Regardless though, the letter concludes by labeling the people who are showing up to these meetings as belonging to hate organizations.
Here's specifically what they write.
As the threads grow and news of extremist hate organizations showing up at school board meetings is being reported, this is a critical time for a proactive approach to deal with this difficult issue.
And then they go on to ask the Biden administration to take concrete actions against these parents who, again, they say are acting as domestic terrorists.
Here's what the letter states.
NSBA requests a joint expedited review by the U.S. Department of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security.
Additionally, NSBA requests that such review examine appropriate enforceable actions against these crimes and acts of violence under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the Patriot Act in regards to domestic terrorism, and any related measure.
And indeed, the Biden administration responded to this letter fairly quickly.
That's because just yesterday, Mr. Merrick Garland, who is the U.S. Attorney General, he released this new letter here, which announced a new concentrated effort at the federal level to...
to target any threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment by parents toward school personnel.
Specifically, according to this letter, he is directing the FBI, as well as U.S. attorneys, to convene meetings with the federal, state, and local leaders within the next 30 days to, quote, facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.
Furthermore, according to the Department of Justice, more efforts will be rolled out in the next few days, including the formation of a new task force that will determine how to use federal resources in order to prosecute parents, as well as to how to advise state entities on how to prosecute parents in cases where the parents did not break any federal law.
Also, the Department of Justice said that they will be providing training to staff members on how to report threats from parents, as well as how to preserve evidence in order to aid in investigation and prosecution.
Here's specifically what this letter said on that front.
Quote, In recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation's public schools.
While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.
And so we'll have to see how this ultimately plays out, whether this letter and this direction will intimidate parents and stop them from further speaking out, or whether it will actually embolden parents to speak out more.
Regardless, I suspect that many more kids will soon be pulled out of the school system and be homeschooled.
Regardless, if you would like to read this letter from the National School Board Association or this response letter that was issued by Merrick Garland, I'll throw all that into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And lastly, since we mentioned homeschooling, I would like to highly recommend that you check out this awesome show over on Epic TV called Schools Out with Sam Sorbo, where she explores exactly this topic.
Here's the trailer for her recent episode.
To home educate youngsters, you don't have to quit your day job, because even if you work a full-time job, you still have two hours a day left over for your kids, right?
How can you keep a hold of your life when it appears it will be smothered in your filling the enormous shoes of the school system?
We believe the schools know exactly what is necessary for your child to learn, but That's not entirely true.
She is a block of marble, and you are chiseling away at her to find the tremendous beauty that is inside.
Your pouring in to the life of your child will impart to him just how special an individual he is.
It's so important.
And just remember, the system wanted to rob you of that.
If you want to check out that episode, as well as all the other awesome content over on Epic TV, I'll throw a link.
It'll be right there at the very top of the description box.
I hope you click on it.
I hope you check it out.
I hope you subscribe.
And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
Lastly, if you haven't already, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
Subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't already in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your YouTube feed while YouTube still allows it.
Also, consider hitting that notification bell so you can actually be notified of any new videos as we release them.
And lastly, if you have an Instagram account, consider following me at EpicTimesRoman.
I publish behind-the-scenes research as well as spicy memes.
And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times.
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