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Under pressure from SC marshal, MD, VA governors slam Biden admin for ‘refusal’ to stop home protests

July 3, 2022 | | Print Article

The Republican governors of Virginia and Maryland slammed the Biden Justice Department for refusing to put a stop to the protests occurring outside the homes of the Supreme Court’s conservative justices.

The slam came after Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley submitted letters late last week to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin demanding they use local laws to stop the protests themselves.

Both governors responded by pointing the finger right back at the Biden administration, namely at Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“Two months ago, Governor Hogan and Governor Youngkin sent a letter calling on Attorney General Garland to enforce the clear and unambiguous federal statues on the books that prohibit picketing at judges’ residences,” Logan’s communications director, Michael Ricci, said in a statement published Friday.

“A month later, hours after an assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh, the Department of Justice finally responded, declining to enforce the laws,” he added.

Youngkin’s spokesperson, Christian Martinez, responded similarly, saying in a statement that Garland “should do his job by enforcing the much more robust federal laws” governing such matters.

“Every resource of federal law enforcement, including the U.S. Marshalls, should be involved while the Justices continue to be denied the right to live peacefully in their homes,” he added.

In Curley’s letter submitted last week, she complained about protesters “chanting slogans, using bullhorns, and banging drums” outside of the conservative justices’ homes.

All six of the high court’s conservative justices live in either Maryland or Virginia.

“Earlier this week, for example, 75 protesters loudly picketed at one Justice’s home in Maryland for 20-30 minutes in the evening, then proceeded to picket at another Justice’s home for 30 minutes, where the crowd grew to 100, and finally returned to the first Justice’s home to picket for another 20 minutes,” Curley wrote.

But the problem is that both Hogan and Youngkin are being restricted in how they can respond by Democrat officials in their respective states.

Over in Maryland, for instance, Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, has “questioned” the “constitutionality” of stopping the protests outside the justices’ homes, according to Ricci.

Meanwhile in Fairfax County, Virginia, where three sitting justices currently live, Board of Supervisors chair Jeffrey McKay, a Democrat, has complained that enforcing local laws against the protesters would “likely” be a “violation of the First Amendment.”

“As long as individuals are assembling on public property and not blocking access to private residences, they are permitted to be there,” he said, as reported by The Washington Post.

See the problem? From top (AG Garland) to bottom (state AG Frosh and chair McKay), Democrats are blocking any meaningful action against the protesters.

This seems to be a recurring pattern. They refuse to enforce immigration policies, they refuse to prosecute criminals, and they are now refusing to do anything about protesters trying to intimidate the high court’s conservative justices.

In fairness, congressional Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate did eventually pass a bill last month funding more security for the justices and their families, but only after being pushed and prodded repeatedly by their Republican counterparts.

Recall how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi snapped at a reporter during a briefing in early June when pressed about her refusal to fast-track a bill that would fund security for Supreme Court justices’ families, and then claimed that said families would be just fine if she waited an entire weekend to bring the bill up for a vote.

During the briefing, Pelosi said she intended to bring the bill up for a vote the following week rather than right away.

“We had hoped that we could do it today but we certainly will do it at the beginning of next week,” she said.

She defended the decision by claiming that the Supreme Court justices and their families would be just fine through the weekend because they were “protected.”

But as Pelosi was stepping away from the podium at the conclusion of the press conference, one reporter spoke out to question this narrative.

“How can you say the justices are protected when there was an attempt on Justice Kavanaugh’s life? You said the justices are protected, but there was an attempt on Justice Kavanaugh’s life,” the reporter asked.

Pelosi, who’d been walking away from the podium, stopped mid-step, turned around, and purported to offer an answer.

“And he’s protected. He’s protected. The justices are protected. This issue isn’t about the justices. It’s about the staff and the rest,” she said.

“But this is about security for the justices. An armed man showed up near Justice Kavanaugh’s house to try to …,” the reporter responded before being cut off.

“We’re working together on the bill that the Senate will be able to approve of,” Pelosi replied, referencing the stalled bill.

“We can pass whatever we want to. We want it to be able to pass the Senate. So I don’t know what you’re talking about, because evidently, you haven’t seen what the debate is. Not debate, but language is. There will be a bill, but nobody is in danger over the weekend because of us not having the bill,” she added.

The bill wound up not making it through the House til the following Tuesday.

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Vivek Saxena
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