Mark Houck Gets $3M DOJ Settlement After FACE Act Acquittal

Mark Houck has been awarded reparations after a lengthy legal battle with the Department of Justice. The payout follows his acquittal in a case related to the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

Houck was acquitted in January 2023 after a jury deliberated for about an hour on charges stemming from his physical altercation with a Planned Parenthood volunteer, whom he claimed was harassing his son. The case against Houck began when he was charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act after he pushed away the volunteer.

Local police and the district attorney had previously rejected the volunteer's attempt to bring Houck to court, and a municipal court dismissed a lawsuit against him. However, the DOJ pursued the case, threatening Houck with a maximum 11-year prison sentence. In a separate legal action, Houck partnered with the Institute of Law and Justice to file a lawsuit against the DOJ.

U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond dismissed this lawsuit last year, citing probable cause and reasonable use of force by federal agents during Houck's arrest. Following the dismissal, Houck's legal team appealed and awaited reparations, which were actualized in 2026 and announced this week.

The organization described the settlement as marking a significant rebuke of the DOJ’s conduct under the Biden administration, though the DOJ has not commented on the matter. In 2025, President Donald Trump took office for the second time and issued a pardon for 23 Americans arrested for purportedly violating the FACE Act.

Additionally, DOJ leadership published a memo limiting prosecutions under the FACE Act to extraordinary circumstances or cases of serious bodily harm, serious property damage, or death.