The Justice Department released a report Tuesday alleging the Biden administration weaponized federal law by selectively prosecuting pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, or FACE, Act, after a review of more than 700,000 internal records. That is the machinery of state power laid bare: prosecutors, records, and enforcement decisions turned into a tool for sorting who gets crushed and who gets protected.
Who Gets Targeted
DOJ officials said prosecutors coordinated with abortion-rights groups to track activists, sought harsher sentences for pro-life defendants and, in some cases, withheld evidence or tried to exclude jurors based on religion. The report says the apparatus did not merely enforce a law; it allegedly used the law as a filter for punishment, with the state deciding whose beliefs made them fair game.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, "This department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice." He also said, "No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system." The language is polished, but the structure remains the same: one set of officials claims the authority to correct another set of officials, all while ordinary people remain subject to the same prosecutorial machine.
The Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, a review team created under the Trump administration to examine whether federal law was used in a biased or politically motivated way, said it reviewed internal communications, case files and prosecutorial decisions tied to enforcement of the FACE Act, a law intended to protect access to abortion clinics and pregnancy resource centers. The review itself shows how the state audits its own violence after the fact, with one administration’s internal mechanism judging another’s internal mechanism.
How the Machine Worked
The report found officials under the Biden administration worked closely with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and the Feminist Majority Foundation, which helped compile information on pro-life activists used in investigations and prosecutions. That is the nonprofit and advocacy layer of the system doing administrative labor for the state, feeding names and information into the enforcement pipeline.
The report said, "The Biden DOJ prosecutors knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense." In one case, a DOJ official told defense counsel, "I do not keep the kind of records you requested and, as a result, I do not believe that we will provide them to you," when asked for data to support a selective prosecution defense. The report said the official had the information "readily available" but declined to share it with the defense. The imbalance is plain: the state holds the records, the defense asks, and the answer is denial.
The report also alleged prosecutors attempted to screen out jurors based on religious beliefs and, in some cases, opted for aggressive arrest tactics rather than allowing defendants to voluntarily surrender. It cited a case involving pro-life activist Mark Houck in which prosecutors declined a request for him to self-surrender and instead authorized an FBI arrest at his home. The image is familiar enough: the state prefers force, spectacle, and control when it can get them.
What They Call Enforcement
DOJ officials further claimed pro-life defendants faced significantly harsher sentencing requests, with prosecutors seeking an average of 26.8 months in prison compared with 12.3 months for defendants accused of violence against pro-life organizations. The report argued the Biden administration’s enforcement of the FACE Act was uneven, with authorities prioritizing cases involving abortion clinics while failing to adequately pursue attacks on pregnancy resource centers and churches. In other words, the law was allegedly applied with a thumb on the scale, and the scale belonged to the people with badges and titles.
The Justice Department said the Trump administration has already taken steps to reverse course, including issuing pardons for pro-life activists convicted under the prior administration, dismissing several civil cases and limiting future FACE Act prosecutions to "extraordinary circumstances" involving significant aggravating factors. The reform cycle keeps spinning: one administration punishes, the next pardons, and the underlying structure of selective power remains intact.
Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows said, "The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful." He also said, "Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests." The report and the quotes together sketch a familiar hierarchy: lawyers, prosecutors, advocacy groups, and federal agencies all moving pieces around while ordinary defendants are left to absorb the consequences.
The article identified Michael Dorgan as the writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business and said readers could send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan. It also said Merrick Garland headed the Justice Department under the Biden administration. The article included a photo caption saying anti-abortion activists marched across the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol during the 50th annual March for Life rally on Jan. 20, 2023 in Washington, DC.