By Caroline Downey, National Review

During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that he will not dissolve the task force he formed to investigate threats leveled by parents against school-board members, despite the National School Board Association apologizing for the letter which Garland has said served as the predicate for the task force’s formation.

When asked about the task force by ranking Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, Garland suggested that the body is still necessary even though the NSBA backtracked on its original request for federal intervention to probe and potentially prosecute parents found guilty of threatening school administrators. In its apology statement released last week, the organization also reversed its characterization of parent protests at school board meetings as “domestic terrorism.”

“On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for this letter. . . . There was no justification for some of the language included in this letter,” it read.

The NSBA’s about-face came after state school board chapters across the country distanced themselves or formally disassociated from the national group, which they said failed to consult them before issuing a memo they would have refused to endorse.

In defense of his decision to keep the task force, Garland said the NSBA letter wasn’t the only predicate for DOJ action, citing “news reports” detailing threats against school board members that he suggested justified intervention.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton rebuked this idea, however, referencing the Loudoun County student sexual assault report published by the Daily Wire revealing that the parent of a female victim was silenced by the school board and subsequently arrested for protesting the incident at a meeting.

“‘This is shameful,” Cotton said. “Thank God you’re not on the Supreme Court. You should resign in disgrace.”

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