Minnesota AG Claims FACE Act 'Only for Reproductive Rights' - Law Explicitly Protects Churches Too

Minnesota's top law enforcement officer just made a claim that doesn't square with federal law.

Attorney General Keith Ellison appeared on Don Lemon's YouTube show Monday and insisted the FACE Act only protects reproductive rights. One problem: the statute has explicitly covered churches since 1994.

'And the FACE Act, by the way, is designed to protect the rights of people seeking reproductive rights,' Ellison told Lemon, according to Fox News. 'So that people, for a religious reason, cannot just use religion to break into women's reproductive health centres.'

The interview came a day after anti-ICE protesters stormed Cities Church in St Paul, disrupting Sunday worship for about half an hour.

The Statute Tells A Different Story

Ellison's interpretation runs headfirst into the actual text of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

The law makes it a federal crime to use force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to interfere with anyone 'lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship,' per the Justice Department's own website.

President Bill Clinton signed the bill in 1994. It covers abortion clinics and churches equally. First offence? Up to a year in prison. Second offence? Three years. Cause bodily injury? That jumps to ten, NBC News noted.

What Happened on Sunday

Dozens of activists pushed into Cities Church mid-service. Organiser Nekima Levy-Armstrong called it a 'clandestine operation' meant to 'disrupt business as usual'.

Their target: lead pastor David Easterwood, who protesters allege moonlights as an ICE agent. They chanted 'ICE out' and 'Renee Good' inside the sanctuary. The service fell apart. Congregants left.

Renee Nicole Good was a 37-year-old mother of three shot dead by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on 7 January. Her killing sparked the current wave of protests. Trump responded by sending 3,000 ICE agents to the state.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hasn't backed down. 'In Minneapolis, we're not going to be intimidated,' he told Meet the Press Sunday.

Lemon was there with the cameras rolling. He livestreamed the whole thing and interviewed protesters before they went inside.

DOJ Fires Back

Harmeet Dhillon isn't letting this slide. The assistant attorney general for civil rights announced Monday that the Justice Department will pursue charges. She posted protest footage on social media and said her division was investigating 'potential violations of the federal FACE Act'.

'Come next Sunday, nobody should think in the United States that they're going to be able to get away with this,' Dhillon said. 'The fullest force of the federal government is going to come down.'

Attorney General Pam Bondi piled on: 'Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.'

As for Lemon? Dhillon put him 'on notice' but stopped short of confirming charges against him specifically.

'A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!' she told him on X.

Lemon Pushes Back

The former CNN host isn't apologising. '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,' Lemon told NBC News. 'That framing is telling.'

He called the criticism 'manufactured outrage' and said the energy would be better spent investigating Good's death. 'I stand by my reporting.'

Ellison Digs In

The attorney general doubled down when Lemon pressed him on the church disruption.

'The protest is fundamental to American society; this country started in a protest,' Ellison said, per The Daily Wire. 'It's freedom of expression; people have a right to lift up their voices.'

He accused Trump's team of selective outrage. 'This administration is real tender about things when it comes to their own interest. But they don't care about the same things when the things don't lie in their favour.'

Things could escalate fast. Trump threatened last week to invoke the Insurrection Act. The Pentagon has 1,500 troops on standby. And the Justice Department just opened an investigation into Frey and Governor Tim Walz for allegedly blocking federal agents.