Staff Reports
Fox News reports a warning from the White House to protesters: Justices “must be able” to perform their duties without regard to “personal safety.”
Despite calls for judges to be free to “do their jobs without concern for their personal safety,” the White House issued a condemnation of violent protests and vandalism on Monday, as demonstrations over the weekend spread from churches to the homes of Supreme Court justices, amid the fallout from the release of a draft opinion signaling the high court’s intent to overturn Roe v. Wade.
President Biden, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday, fully believes in the freedom to demonstrate under the Constitution.
Any individual who “pickets or parades” with the “intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice,” or with the “intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer,” near a U.S. court or “near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer,” will be fined, “imprisoned not more than one year, or both,”
And over last weekend, pro-choice activists demonstrated outside the houses of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, respectively.
The abortion-rights group “Ruth Sent Us,” named after the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, had called on abortion backers to gather outside the dwellings of the “six extremist Catholics set out to overturn Roe” and “stand at or in a local Catholic Church” on Mother’s Day, according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, a demonstration outside the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is likely to take place on Monday evening, according to the group “Shutdown D.C.” The majority draft opinion, written by Alito, was released to the public last week and received widespread attention.
Meanwhile, outside of the nation’s capital, an arsonist set fire to the office of Wisconsin Family Action (WFA), a pro-life advocacy group. At least one Molotov cocktail was thrown into the building. The event is being investigated as arson by the police, who have linked it to the fallout from the leaked draft opinion draft.
The incident, as well as “strongly” was “political violence of any stripe.” condemned by the president.
