WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with a pro-life father of 11 who had been prosecuted by the department under the previous administration for his peaceful pro-life advocacy.

As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, the DOJ under former President Joe Biden charged Paul Vaughn and other pro-lifers with violating the Federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act during a “rescue” that took place in March 2021 at a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, abortion center.

In October 2022 – more than a year and a half after the peaceful protest, for which nobody in local law enforcement took action against him – the FBI raided Vaughn’s home at gunpoint in front of his wife and young children, some of whom were just leaving for school. The government claimed that he participated in a “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act” even though he never obstructed anyone and was entirely peaceful.

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In January 2024, Vaughn and five co-defendants were found guilty on all counts, although in July he was sentenced to three years of supervised release, avoiding the 10.5-year prison sentence he had been facing. The Thomas More Society, which appealed the conviction, maintained the jury based its erroneous decision in part on the prosecution “attempt(ing) to portray Paul as intending to interfere with the operation of the Mt. Juliet facility using paper-thin evidence, and as a member of a criminal conspiracy, despite no evidence of prior knowledge of the event” (among other deficiencies in the case and while disregarding exculpatory testimony). President Donald Trump pardoned Vaughn and other pro-lifers upon his return to office in January 2025.

On July 28, Thomas More announced a settlement between Vaughn and the Trump DOJ, the full terms of which were not disclosed beyond that it “acknowledges” the Biden-era abuse of power.

“My family has been through a traumatic ordeal that never should have happened. But today brings an end to this portion of the story,” said Vaughn.

“I am grateful to the members of this Department of Justice who were willing to look honestly at what the prior administration did to our family and so many others and attempt to make it right. I am grateful to President Trump for the pardon that restored my good name, Thomas More Society for their tireless defense, and the countless people who stood with us in prayer. This chapter is finally closed, and our family looks forward with gratitude and hope, as we continue to serve God, advocating for the most vulnerable among us without fear.” Thomas More Society has represented dozens of pro-life clients targeted under the FACE Act in recent years, arguing consistently that the Biden DOJ selectively and aggressively pursued people of faith engaging in constitutionally protected activity.”

The politicization of justice was one of the defining controversies of the Biden years, from the prosecutions of pro-life activists and a “gender transition” whistleblower, to lax prosecution of pro-abortion violence.

In January 2023, a jury found Philadelphia pro-life activist Mark Houck not guilty after the Biden administration tried to make a federal case out of a local altercation with an out-of-control pro-abortion agitator. Houck was also among the pro-life activists whom Trump pardoned.

Also in 2023, a leaked memo revealed that the Biden-era FBI’s Richmond Field Office under Stanley M. Meador targeted “radical traditionalist Catholics” who prefer to attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) as potential “violent extremists” and “white nationalists.” The memo cited as a primary source a study from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a notorious purveyor of false and misleading content portraying mainstream Christian and conservative views as “hate.” The memo was met with widespread condemnations, prompting the FBI to retract it.

Former FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland eventually apologized for the memo, but Richmond field office special agent in charge Stanley Meador privately told the memo’s author, “No apology needed,” and that the incident would “make for a great chapter in your memoirs some day!”

In May of this year, a DOJ report revealed how the Biden administration coordinated with the National Abortion Federation (NAF) on legal action against pro-life activists, benefitting from dossiers that the NAF compiled on activists and organizations that contained sensitive information, such as home addresses.

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