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“Attorney general Garland, does your department have a problem with anti-Catholic bias?”
This was a question posed by US Republican senator Josh Hawley, who was among a number of conservative politicians last week who raised allegations that the Biden administration is pursuing an anti-Catholic agenda.
The question put by Hawley to Merrick Garland may seem extraordinary. How could an administration run by a devout Catholic who carries rosary beads with him and who never misses Mass on Sunday be against those who practise the same religion?
Garland denied that the US department of justice had biases against any religion and insisted the FBI was not “targeting Catholics”.
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However, conservative politicians contend two recent incidents suggest otherwise. They claim, for example, there is a two-tier system of justice in relation to activities connected with abortion.
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Republican politicians argue the justice department appears to have prosecuted more people for blocking access to abortion clinics than for attacks on anti-abortion pregnancy resource centres. Both of these actions can lead to imprisonment or fines under legislation.
In January, Republicans in the House of Representatives said there had been nearly 40 attacks – mainly vandalism – against anti-abortion groups, facilities or churches in the weeks following the leak last May of the draft supreme court ruling ending the federal right to a termination.
Garland acknowledged there had been more prosecutions for blocking access to abortion clinics but said such incidents largely took place in daylight in view of cameras. “Those who are attacking the pregnancy resources centres, which is a horrible thing to do, are doing this at night, in the dark.”
Conservatives such as Hawley also pointed to the case of a Catholic anti-abortion activist, Mark Houck, who was acquitted on a disorderly conduct charge by a jury in January arising from an incident outside an abortion clinic in Philadelphia.
Hawley said that when a local liberal prosecutor in Pennsylvania declined to charge Houck and a private legal case had been dismissed, Garland’s department of justice had stepped in with its own prosecution.
He said that 20-30 agents with rifles, ballistic shields and bulletproof vests had arrived at Houck’s home in an early morning raid even though he had offered to turn himself in.
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Garland argued that the facts in the case were “not as described”.
Hawley also highlighted a highly controversial memorandum issued in late January by the FBI field office in Richmond, Virginia. This suggested “the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development” against traditionalist Catholics “including those who favor the Latin Mass”.
Hawley wanted to know whether the justice department was cultivating spies in Catholic parishes where the Latin Mass was celebrated.
The Washington Post said the FBI memo had suggested that “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” might be found among what it called “radical-traditionalist Catholics” (RTCs), whom it said were “typically characterised by the rejection of the Second Vatican Council”.
It said RTCs frequently adhered to an “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, and white supremacy” ideology.
Garland said the justice department did not carry out investigations based on religion and he appeared shocked that such a document was ever drawn up.
He said he was “appalled” by the memo. “I understand that the FBI has withdrawn it and it’s now looking into how this could ever have happened.”
Hawley suggested the memo was based largely on reports produced by the civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Centre, which he described as a left-wing advocacy organisation.
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Garland said the FBI should not be relying on any outside organisation without doing its own work.
Garland and the FBI may have disowned the memo – which did say RTCs represented a small minority of those overall of the faith and drew distinctions between them and mainstream Catholics – but the damage had already been done.
The Catholic bishop of Richmond, Christopher Knestout, condemned the leaked document as a threat to religious liberty and said it should be troubling and offensive to all Americans and communities of faith.
Attorneys general of about 20 states subsequently said they were outraged at the document, as were Republicans in Congress.
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The FBI memo raised serious religious freedom and constitutional issues in the US. However, there are also politics in play.
Joe Biden won the Catholic vote by a fraction over Donald Trump in 2020 (50 per cent to 49 per cent, according to the Associated Press).
Suggestions by Republicans – echoed in conservative media – that the Biden administration is anti-Catholic could have implications for the president and his party heading into the 2024 election.