Supreme Court Asks Maryland, Virginia Governors to Put an End to Regular Protests Outside Justices' Homes
The private residences of Supreme Court justices have become the scenes of regular protests this summer, with leftists objecting to the end of Roe v. Wade.
The court has had enough of the protests, and the body’s chief security officer is turning to two state governors to end them.
Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley sent letters to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday.
“For weeks on end, large groups of protesters chanting slogans, using bullhorns and banging drums have picketed Justices’ homes,” Curley wrote in the letter, according to the New York Post.
“You recently stated that you were ‘deeply concerned’ that ‘hundreds of demonstrators have recently chosen to picket Supreme Court Justices at their homes in … Maryland,’ while using ‘threatening language’ — jeopardizing ‘the integrity of our American judicial system and the safety of our citizen,” the marshal wrote to Gov. Hogan. “Since then, protest activity at justices’ homes, as well as threatening activity, has only increased.”
She went on to cite existing state and local statutes that bar protests outside private residences.
Curley says some of the protests have included raucous crowds of as many as 100 people, and that they keep going well into the night.
Youngkin welcomed the marshal’s request, calling upon county officials in Fairfax County to enforce relevant laws, according to Voice of America.
“The governor remains in regular contact with the justices themselves and holds their safety as an utmost priority. He is in contact with state and local officials on the marshal’s request for assistance and will continue to engage on the issue of the justice’s safety,” spokesman Christian Martinez said.
Youngkin had earlier called upon the county to enforce a security perimeter outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home.
A spokesman for Hogan said that Maryland’s governor planned to “further review enforcement options that respect the First Amendment and the Constitution.”
The legality of the protests has been scrutinized, with some pointing to the events as federal crimes.
Attorney General Merrick Garland eventually condemned the harassing protests after a bipartisan chorus of members of Congress urged him to take action.
An armed man was arrested outside Kavanaugh’s home after an abortive assassination attempt.
United States Marshals present at the scene deterred Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin from attacking the home. The man faces an attempted murder charge for his plan to carry out a hit on the judge.
Neighbors of Justice Amy Coney Barrett have expressed their exasperation with the events, objecting to their suburban block being turned into a political battleground.
Protests are not just taking place at the homes of these justices. A group of pro-abortion activists nearly broke inside the Arizona Capitol in a protest event following the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
The group defaced several World War II and veteran’s monuments, but local authorities indicated no arrests were made shortly after the event.
CORRECTION, July 15, 2022: As a result of a grammatical error, the headline of this article originally stated that multiple homes owned by one Supreme Court justice had been the locations of protests. That was not the case, as the article made clear, so we have corrected the headline accordingly. In addition, we included a statement regarding Gov. Youngkin of Virginia calling upon local officials in Maryland’s Montgomery County to take action, which was, of course, incorrect. Youngkin called for action in Fairfax County, Virginia.
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