Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told a gathering of religion” target=”_blank”>religious<

Hawley, meanwhile, has sent a letter to the attorney general, expressing concern that the DOJ would chill parents’ free speech with its new investigation. 

“Not on my watch and not without a fight,” said Hawley at Friday’s event. “I am not going to stand by. I will not stand idly by while this administration uses the federal government against us. I will not stand by while they trample our First Amendment rights.”

DOJ recently announced it would coordinate a nationwide investigation after the National School Board Association (NSBA) suggested educators might be encountering domestic terrorism. In it, NSBA referenced several instances of reported violence or intimidation. 

Garland’s memo didn’t use the term “domestic terrorist” and clarified that “spirited debate” was not the target of his probe. Nonetheless, Hawley has expressed concern about the NSBA letter, which invoked the Patriot Act, and the potential for overreach.

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The Missouri senator also asked attendees to pray every day for the Supreme Court until Dec. 1, when it’s scheduled to hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Mississippi. Hawley described the case as the most important pro-life case in a generation and hoped the Court would overturn Roe v. Wade. 

“It is the worst decision certainly of this century,” he said of Roe. One of the absolute worst decisions in our country’s history. It ranks right up there with Dred Scott, which extended slavery all across this country and required a Civil War to destroy.”