A top Justice Department official ordered prosecutors on Friday to terminate three pending cases brought by the Biden administration that involved protesters allegedly blocking entrances to abortion clinics.
Attorney general chief of staff Chad Mizelle wrote to the Civil Rights Division head in a memo, obtained by the Washington Examiner, that the move was in line with President Donald Trump’s order to end a perceived weaponization of power by executive branch agencies.
“President Trump campaigned on the promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government and has recently directed all federal departments and agencies to identify and correct the past weaponization of law enforcement,” Mizelle wrote.
Mizelle said that “to many Americans,” Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prosecutions were the “prototypical example of this weaponization.”
The FACE Act prohibits obstructing entry to or intimidation toward abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy counseling centers, and churches. Under President Joe Biden, FACE Act prosecutions multiplied and were directed almost entirely at anti-abortion activists, despite an uptick in attacks on both types of facilities in recent years.
Conservatives have long been outspoken about the Biden administration’s aggressive use of the FACE Act. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reintroduced legislation this month to repeal the law, which was signed in 1994, but their bill does not at this stage have enough support to pass.
One of the cases the Department of Justice will ask a judge to toss out is against Matthew Connolly, who was accused of shutting himself in a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood bathroom in 2021 and refusing to leave for hours, alarming staff and prompting a police response. Connolly had disrupted abortion facilities at least 19 other times and said after the incident that he would “do it again,” according to his indictment.
The two other cases involved numerous defendants who were accused of blocking entrances of abortion clinics. Some of the defendants, including Lauren Handy, were among 24 anti-abortion activists Trump also pardoned on Thursday who were convicted in other, similar cases. Handy has been arrested and convicted several times for organizing and participating in abortion clinic blockades, which she has frequently described as “rescues” of babies.
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FACE Act violations that do not result in death, serious injury, or significant property damage should be handled at the state or local level, Mizelle said.
His memo comes amid a string of changes within the department as it moves to shift priorities to align with the new administration. Mizelle also put a freeze on bringing any new cases at the Civil Rights Division, a historic arm of the DOJ established in 1957. That division in particular is expected to see a dramatic shakeup under the leadership of conservative attorney Harmeet Dhillon once she is confirmed.
