After their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in support of former President Trump failed, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) are now pivoting to a new battle in the culture wars, getting in on the fight over the legal guardianship of pop icon Britney Spears.
In a letter sent to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on Monday, Jordan and Gaetz called for a hearing on conservatorships, referencing the pop superstar’s involuntary conservatorship enacted 13 year ago. Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, was granted the authority by courts to manage the celebrity’s daily and financial affairs ever since then.
“Given the constitutional freedom at stake and opaqueness of these arrangements, it is incumbent upon our Committee to convene a hearing to examine whether Americans are trapped unjustly in conservatorships,” Gaetz and Jordan wrote.
The legal battle over Spears’ conservatorship, which initially began as a temporary order when the Grammy-winning singer was hospitalized for mental health issues in 2008, recently rose to prominence upon the New York Times release of a documentary examining Spears’ tumultuous court battle for the control of her estate. The documentary followed Spears’ fan-led movement known as “Free Britney.”
In arguing their concerns over “the use of conservatorships to effectively deprive individuals of personal freedoms at the behest of others” through courts, Gaetz and Jordan wrote that Spears’ conservatorship troubles speak to issues surrounding guardianship for older people and those with disabilities, which the ACLU has spoken out against.
On Tuesday, Gaetz took to Fox News to say that he believes Spears would be a “great witness” at the hearing that he and Jordan are calling for.
Gaetz and Jordan’s letter comes amid Democrats accusing House Republicans of trying to get more airtime as a way to home in on their status as Trump loyalists, especially in the aftermath of the deadly Capitol insurrection earlier this year that the former president incited. Gaetz and Jordan both voted to reject the Electoral College victory of President Joe Biden even after the deadly violence on the Hill.
