This probably shouldn't come as a surprise from Keith 'Antifa' Ellison. He appeared on CNN yesterday and was asked about whether he had any problems with protesters, including Don Lemon, storming a church and driving everyone off. Ellison did his best to ignore the question and instead rambled on about Trump and ICE. All he would say about the behavior of the protesters was that it looked like "First Amendment activity" to him.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says that terrorizing a church service is just "First Amendment activity." pic.twitter.com/kUt6oXaKAO
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 20, 2026
Jonathan Turley has a column up today stating that Ellison is simply wrong on the law.
One would think that a mob action against a church would be something that would transcend political divisions as a grotesque and chilling act. If you thought that, you do not know Keith Ellison.
Notably, in the CNN interview, Host Erin Burnett raised the incident due to its “bad optics” as opposed to the outrageous attack on a house of faith. Yet, Ellison was not even willing to take that lead in objecting to the simple optics as opposed to the denial of religious exercise. He insisted that this is “a First Amendment activity” and not a crime.
He is wrong. Protesting outside of the church is a First Amendment activity. Disrupting church services and abusing congregants inside the church is conduct, not speech.
Ellison also went on Don Lemon's show yesterday where he went further and said the disruption of the church service was just "something you gotta live with" in a free society.
BREAKING - Minnesota AG Keith Ellison says yesterday’s occupation of a Minneapolis church was “free speech.”
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) January 19, 2026
“None of us are immune to the voice of the public.”
You heard him. We can now protest in Somali mosques for stealing our money.pic.twitter.com/b8okVyA7zE
Lemon also asked Ellison about the application of the FACE act and the Klan act to the church disruption. Ellison denied that either law applied in this circumstance.
A visibly concerned Don Lemon asks Minnesota AG Keith Ellison for his two cents on possible KKK Act charges.
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) January 19, 2026
Ellison claims the law was never meant for situations like this, but claims the Trump DOJ is now “stretching” statutes to target people anyway. pic.twitter.com/Nmh0zPhP2S
But again, Jonathan Turley says Ellison is wrong on the law.
Ellison then went on Lemon’s show and insisted that there is no federal crime here. He specifically stated that the FACE Act cannot be used in the case because it only deals with abortion rights: “the FACE Act, by the way, is designed to protect the rights of people seeking reproductive rights… so that people for a religious reason cannot just use religion to break into women’s reproductive health centers.”
While it is undoubtedly true that the FACE Act is best known as a bar on protesters targeting abortion clinics, it expressly extends to targeting churches, making it a federal crime to “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to … exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” Other laws protect against the denial of civil rights.
Ellison, however, told the public that no such laws exist and that the FACE Act cannot apply to this case.
As David pointed out yesterday, the DOJ does not agree with Ellison's take on this at all. They are already looking into possible charges for violation of the FACE act or the Klan conspiracy act. Today, CNN is reporting that the DOJ intends to issue a subpoena of Ellison.
The Justice Department is planning to subpoena Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in a criminal investigation of several state and local officials, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
CNN has previously reported Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are also expected to receive federal criminal subpoenas from the US Attorney’s Office in the state.
So that's where things stand this morning. Ellison is pretty clearly wrong about the Constitution and the FACE act. Here's Turley's conclusion about Ellison:
Ellison is a curious form of attorney general who opposes the actual enforcement of laws. Ellison is refusing to enforce his own laws while suing to bar the federal government from enforcing its own laws. He is akin to a doctor who opposes the actual administration of medicine.
He's against the law when it might work against leftists disrupting a church, but if we saw a group of angry right-wing protesters driving people out of a Minnesota mosque, I suspect Ellison would have a very different reaction and a different take on how the law applies.
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