There are more than 50 million students in the United States for whom public education represents a cornerstone for a democratic society, but a cabal of right-wing religious extremists hopes to destroy that path out of poverty and into prosperity.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the donor group Ziklag have formulated a covert $3 million litigation strategy aimed at dismantling the public education system in the United States by bringing its “War on Woke” to the Supreme Court, which has been stacked with ultraconservative members who destroyed the Voting Rights Act, ended the right to privacy empowered women to terminate unwanted pregnancies, and given corporations too much power in elections.
Internal recordings and documents obtained by Documented shed light on the groups’ plan to leverage right-wing political anger towards public school teachings on race, LGBTQ+ rights, and other progressive values.
The strategy, which sought to exploit the recent shift to the right in the judiciary, aimed to engineer a split in the circuits and bring a case before the Supreme Court. The ultimate objective was a national school voucher mandate, potentially diverting $238 billion annually from public schools.
ADF and Ziklag proposed creating a Parent’s Rights Legal Team (PRLT) within ADF, backed by a budget ranging from $2 to $3 million for an 18-month to 3-year effort. The plan included filing cases across the country, strategically selecting jurisdictions for favorable outcomes and utilizing the concept of “judicial selection.”
The legal argument put forth by ADF focused on the alleged indoctrination of students with a secular worldview, especially around Critical Race Theory (CRT), LGBTQ+ rights, and Black Lives Matter (BLM). The groups wanted the Supreme Court to rule it unconstitutional to support state schools that exclusively promote one system of thought.
ADF began implementing its strategy in 2021, filing cases such as Ibañez v. Albemarle County School Board in Virginia and McCord v. South Madison Community School Corporation in Indiana. The organization recently celebrated a victory in Wisconsin, challenging a school district’s policy on students’ preferred names and pronouns.
While the plan seems ambitious, ADF has a history of achieving “generational wins.” The organization boasts 15 victories at the Supreme Court since 2011 and played a pivotal role in the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization lawsuit.
The right-wing anger fueled by ADF’s allies, such as Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, has escalated, sometimes turning violent at school board meetings.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has designated ADF as a hate group since 2016, and several affiliated groups were added to the SPLC list of U.S. extremist groups in 2022.
The education strategy is a collaboration between ADF and Ziklag, a funding group aligned with “Seven Mountain Dominionism,” which seeks to alter American society by influencing the institutions of family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government.
Ziklag is connected to United in Purpose (UIP), an evangelical group that played a role in driving evangelical support for Trump in 2016 and 2020.
UIP, a low-key group that has quietly become a preeminent venue for the religious right argues that America was founded as a fundamentalist Christian nation with no separation of church and state. This revisionist interpretation not only distorts historical facts but also, more alarmingly, serves as a backdoor attempt to reintroduce the evils of slavery into contemporary discourse.
Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr, speaking at a Council for National Policy (CNP) meeting, identified the public education system as a threat to religious liberty. Barr proposed the use of school vouchers, laying the groundwork for the collaboration between ADF and Ziklag.
Despite leadership changes at ADF, the project continues, with Kristen Waggoner, a potential future Supreme Court Justice, taking over as president. The organization’s revenue has doubled in the past five years, reaching $104 million in 2022.
As the legal battles unfold, the nation watches to see whether ADF’s ambitious plan to reshape the education system will succeed or face resistance from those advocating for inclusive and progressive values in public schools.