Texas Congressman Chip Roy demanded Thursday that the FBI and Justice Department preserve all records of its prosecutions of peaceful pro-life protesters across the country.
Roy said in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland that lawmakers had “serious questions” about the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law that made it a federal crime to block the entrance of an abortion facility. Thursday’s letter, first shared with The Daily Wire, comes after the FBI ignored a similar request from Roy in October.
Roy, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, said that the need to keep records was “imperative” with the outgoing Biden administration and incoming Trump administration. The letter was also signed by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Surveillance.
“Congress has a sacred duty to preserve the rights of the American people, including the First Amendment, against any overreach by the Executive Branch,” Roy and Biggs wrote. “As we examine how to best protect Americans’ fundamental freedoms, the Subcommittees must first understand how the DOJ and FBI enforce the FACE Act.”
As written, the FACE Act is meant to protect both churches and crisis pregnancy centers. However, the Biden administration has disproportionately used it to go after pro-lifers despite an increase in targeting of pregnancy centers after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“However, since January 2021, the Civil Rights Division has brought a total of 24 FACE Act cases against 55 defendants, with only two of these cases — consisting of five defendants — concerning attacks on pregnancy resource centers,” Roy wrote. “You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry.”
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Pro-lifers are imprisoned across the country, including in Washington, D.C.. and Illinois, after they were successfully prosecuted by the Biden administration under the FACE Act.
During his time in Congress, Roy has consistently pushed for the FACE Act to be repealed and has introduced legislation to end the law. Data shows that 97% of all prosecutions of the FACE Act since its inception have been against pro-lifers.
