‘Two-tiered system of justice’: DOJ finds Biden weaponized FACE Act against pro-lifers
The Biden administration collaborated with pro-abortion groups in weaponizing law enforcement against pro-lifers, according to a report released Tuesday by the Justice Department.
Under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Biden-era Justice Department aggressively applied the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, against pro-life activists, the report says.
The FACE Act protects access to abortion clinics, pregnancy centers, and houses of worship. The 882-page report, released on Tuesday, documents more than 700 internal records of enforcement of the law to protect abortion clinics.
According to the report, the Justice Department under President Donald Trump will now take corrective actions to right the wrongs of the prior administration.
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
“No department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs,” Blanche continued. “The weaponization that happened under the Biden administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
President Joe Biden was in office when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, returning abortion law to the states.
The report says the Biden Justice Department collaborated with organizations such as the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and the Feminist Majority Foundation to track pro-life activists.
The pro-choice organizations compiled evidence and dossiers that were used for search warrants and charges against pro-life activists, the report says. Career attorneys with the Justice Department monitored pro-life activists for years before charging them.
One lead prosecutor helped the National Abortion Federation’s application for a private grant without getting ethics approval for a party with business before the DOJ, the report noted.
The report notes that the FACE Act is supposed to protect both pro-choice and pro-life facilities. However, the Biden DOJ provided significant support to abortion clinics and ignored or downplayed vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers.
The report says federal prosecutors “authorized aggressive arrest tactics” rather than allowing pro-life defendants to self-surrender. It says the Biden administration prosecutors withheld evidence that defense counsel requested. Further, the Justice Department attempted to screen out jurors based on religion.
The report says the Biden DOJ requested an average sentence of 26.8 months for pro-life defendants in FACE Act cases, compared with 12.3 months for pro-choice defendants.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]