The aggressive and discriminatory use of the FACE Act to punish and intimidate pro-life Americans has prompted Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) to demand the FBI and DOJ to preserve records for scrutiny by his House Judiciary subcommittee.
Rep. Roy, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, wrote to the heads of the two Biden Administration enforcement arms to “preserve all existing and future records and materials relating to FACE Act cases as part of our oversight of the use of this law” – and to “prevent the destruction” of all relevant documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information, The Daily Wire reports:
“In a letter first shared with The Daily Wire, Roy called on FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland to take steps to keep all documentation of their Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) cases. The FACE Act is a Clinton-era law that makes it a federal crime to physically obstruct the entrance to an abortion facility.”
As The Daily Wire explains, the FBI and DOJ have inequitably enforced the FACE Act, which is supposed to protect more than just abortion clinics:
“Data shows that 97% of all FACE prosecutions since the law’s inception have been against pro-lifers, even though the law was passed to protect churches and pregnancy centers.”
….
“Peaceful pro-life protesters across the country, from Tennessee to Washington, D.C., have received prison time in FACE Act cases. Meanwhile, a growing number of crisis pregnancy centers have been attacked in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. At least 94 centers have been vandalized since the draft of the decision to overturn Roe leaked in May 2022.”
In a Newsweek commentary co-authored with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in May, Rep. Roy highlighted two such cases of heavy-handed prosecutions of peaceful pro-lifers, Paul Vaughn and Mark Houck, and noted the enforcement disparity:
“How can Laken Riley's murderer, an illegal alien, be repeatedly arrested and set free while Paul Vaughn, an American father, faces an 11-year prison sentence for singing hymns outside an abortion clinic? One word: weaponization. President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have weaponized the Department of Justice, including the FBI, against anyone and everyone with whom they disagree.”
The horrific details of the extreme measures – a gun-wielding SWAT team – employed to arrest Houck at his family home are provided by The Catholic News Agency:
“At the time of the arrest, Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie Houck, told CNA that ‘a SWAT team of about 25 came to my house with about 15 vehicles and started pounding on our door.’ She added: ‘They said they were going to break in if he didn’t open it. And then they had about five guns pointed at my husband, myself, and basically at my kids.’”
Houck was acquitted of all charges in a unanimous jury decision.
“President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have weaponized the Department of Justice, including the FBI, against anyone and everyone with whom they disagree,” Rep. Roy and Sen. Lee wrote in their Newsweek commentary, warning that “for the Biden administration, the First Amendment is a selective privilege, not an inalienable right”:
“The FACE ACT not only violates our constitutional principle of federalism, it holds no value other than to allow Justice Department bureaucrats to carry out a radical pro-abortion agenda.”