Global Courant 2023-04-27 16:20:07
EXCLUSIVE — The Justice Department and the FBI are facing a lawsuit from a Catholic lobby group alleging failure to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request over a memo that came from an FBI field office that labeled Catholics as ‘violent extremists’.
CatholicVote filed a lawsuit Thursday with Judicial Watch saying the groups have exhausted all of their options to grant their FOIA requests to the agencies, and that after initially corresponding with the groups, the DOJ and FBI have ceased communication with the groups since April 6.
The lawsuit follows the leak of an internal memo prepared on January 23, 2023 by the FBI field office in Richmond, Virginia. “
According to the complaint, the groups requested text and email communications between DOJ and FBI officials using terms such as “Catholics,” “Latin Mass,” “radical-traditionalist Catholics,” “Pope Francis,” and “rosary,” among others.
FBI Director Christopher Wray (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)
The first FOIA requests were made on March 8. According to the complaint, the FBI informed the groups on March 14 that “unusual circumstances” prevented the agency from meeting its 20-day deadline to respond to a FOIA request.
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While FOIA standards require agencies to respond within 20 business days, with an additional 10 for “unusual circumstances,” more than a month has passed and to date the FBI and DOJ have not provided the requested information or even disclosed whether they are planning to comply with the request, the groups say.
“Our armed and corrupt government agencies have demonstrated a pattern of disregard for justice and the rule of law by prioritizing partisan ideologies and agendas over the protection of the American people – particularly those with whom they disagree politically,” CatholicVote said. President Brian Burch in a statement. a statement.
“We demand transparency from our government and are determined to uncover the heights of anti-Catholic bigotry.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a recent congressional statement about the leaked memo that the agency was “immediately taking steps to retract the memo and remove it from the FBI’s systems.”
“It doesn’t reflect FBI standards,” Wray added. “We don’t conduct investigations based on religious beliefs or practices, period. We’ve also now instructed our inspection department to look into how this happened and find out how we can make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
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Attorney General Merrick Garland (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File)
Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he thought the memo was “appalling.”
But a subpoena issued by R-Ohio House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan last month confirmed that the FBI was trying to cultivate “resources” to fight domestic terrorism and use local religious organizations as “new avenues for tripwires and resource development”.
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Subpoenaed documents also revealed that the FBI relied on “at least one undercover agent to produce its analysis, and that the FBI suggested that its agents reach out to Catholic parishes to develop resources among the clergy and church leaders to inform about Americans who are not following their faith.” practice.”, says Jordaan.
Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., then sent a letter to Garland accusing him of giving false testimony to the Senate last month when he said his department does not develop resources within Catholic churches and other places of worship, and Hawley demanded to know how many “undercover informants or other agents” are helping the department from these religious sites.
The lawsuit follows the leak of an internal memo prepared on January 23, 2023 by the FBI field office in Richmond, Virginia. “ (iStock)
“Let’s be clear: your department has decided to turn Catholic congregations into front organizations for the FBI, and when you were asked about it, you decided to distort the truth before Congress,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Garland on 11 May. April.
“This is an unscrupulous attack on the First Amendment rights of American Catholics and a renunciation of your duty to enforce the law without fear or favour,” he said.
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CatholicVote’s Burch told Fox News Digital his concerns about the memo extend beyond the Catholic Church.
“This is another precedent,” Burch told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“Unless citizens go against our government, we are allowing this escalation of government power to cross boundaries that are sacred, including the privacy of a church, where millions of Americans go every Sunday to worship and seek fellowship with fellow believers.”
“And the prospect of our own federal government spying on or sending our undercover agents to these places of worship is a much bigger concern, a much bigger problem than just for Catholics,” he said.
The FBI and DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
Elizabeht Elkind and Thomas Catenacci of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Brianna Herlihy is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
