Heritage sues Biden administration for info on parent group’s ‘extremist’ label

The Heritage Foundation has sued the Biden administration on behalf of embattled parents rights group Moms for Liberty.

Heritage’s Oversight Project is seeking records from a host of federal agencies concerning their communications about Moms for Liberty, which has been labeled an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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“President Biden needs to leave the moms alone,” Oversight Project Director Mike Howell said in a press release announcing the suit. “But his crooked administration won’t because these parents are the only thing standing between the government and your children.”

Heritage says it has voluntarily asked for records under Freedom of Information Act requests that were denied. It is now going to court to demand records from the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, as well as the FBI, to see if and how they coordinated with SPLC regarding Moms for Liberty.

At issue is an official SPLC designation of Moms for Liberty as an extremist group.

“Moms for Liberty is a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement,” reads SPLC’s description of the organization. “The group grew out of opposition to public health regulations for COVID-19, opposes LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculum, and has advocated books bans.”

Heritage thinks SPLC may not have acted alone in crafting that description. It says SPLC officials have made 11 visits to the Biden White House and potentially coordinated with federal agencies to create what it calls an “unhinged mob harassment campaign.”

SPLC’s extremist group tag has had real-world effects on Moms for Liberty.

Organizers for Moms for Liberty planned an event at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee ahead of the first GOP presidential debate, only for it to be canceled after a reporter for the local Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contacted the center.

The opening sentence of the newspaper’s story about the cancellation reads, “Moms for Liberty, a group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist antigovernment organization … ”

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice said the SPLC has “put a target on our backs.”

“Exercising our free speech rights to attend public school board meetings that decide how our public schools operate is not ‘extremism.’ It is American,” she said. “Why would [the Biden administration] not comply with public records requests? What do they have to hide? We look forward to the truth coming to light.”

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Moms for Liberty describes itself as a group “dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

The Washington Examiner has reached out to the SPLC, DOJ, DHS, HHS, and FBI for comment.