WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shortly after yesterday's oversight hearing, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) led members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in requesting the evidence Attorney General Merrick Garland used to draft the School Board memo. 

In the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Senate Republicans wrote:

“Please provide all evidence you personally used or relied on between Wednesday September 29, 2021, and Monday, October 4, 2021 - other than the content of the NSBA letter dated Wednesday September 29 – that formed the basis for the memo issued by the Department of Justice dated Monday October 4th that addressed ‘…harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff…’

 

"Please respond in writing by Monday, November 1, 2021. Because you were able to distill your evidence and craft a memo that fixed the gaze of the FBI directly on concerned parents across this country in just four days, you should be able to share that evidence with us in the same period of time.” 

The full text of the letter can be found here.

Blackburn and Sasse were joined by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), and John Kennedy (R-Louisiana).  

Background:

Attorney General Merrick Garland testified to the House last week that he had used the National School Board Association’s (NSBA) letter and other reports to draft the memo, which the Attorney General restated in yesterday’s Senate hearing. In the Senate hearing, the Attorney General testified that he had not worked on the DOJ memo until after the NSBA letter arrived at the White House. The Attorney General also stated that he had personally worked on the memo.