Minnesota AG falsely claims FACE Act only prevents protest at abortion clinics—it also applies to houses of worship

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has insisted that the FACE Act only applies to abortion clinics, coming as the Department of Justice is probing possible violations of the law in relation to the storming of a St Paul church by anti-ICE agitators.

Speaking on former CNN host Don Lemon’s podcast, Ellison said, "Yeah, I'm familiar with the FACE Act. You know, in Minnesota, we have—we uphold the right of a woman to choose, and some of the activists, you know, will, you know, sort of—you know, they, so it’s…" He continued, "The law has to do with the, you know, whether or not people's freedom to protest in, generally, regarding reproductive clinics and things like that. So that's the FACE Act.

He later told Lemon, "And the FACE Act, by the way, is designed to protect the rights of people seeking their reproductive rights, to be protected, and so that people, for a religious reason, cannot just use religion to break into women's reproductive health centers. Right? So how they are stretching either of these laws to apply to people who protested in a church over the behavior of a religious leader is beyond me."

The FACE Act, or Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, does protect abortion clinics, however, it also prohibits the obstruction, intimidation, or interference of people exercising their First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship. The law also prohibits the intentional damage or destruction of reproductive health service facilities as well as places of religious worship.

Lemon has been criticized for being embedded in the group of agitators that stormed the church, with DOJ Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon writing, "No one has a right to protest by trespassing into a private house—especially a house of God almighty." She added, "Freedom of the press does not protect journalists, nor anyone else, when they are actively committing crimes."

Lemon told Fox News in a statement, "It’s notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist — especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there. That framing is telling. What’s even more telling is the barrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs, directed at me online by MAGA supporters and amplified by parts of the right-wing press."

"If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good— the very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place," Lemon continued. "I stand by my reporting.”