JUSTICE FOR JUSTICES

Republican Governors Implore Justice Department to Stop Pro-Abortion Rights Protesters at Justices’ Residences

Citing a federal law barring protests aimed at swaying judges’ opinions, the governors of Virginia and Maryland wrote to Merrick Garland and asked him to stop the demonstrations.

In the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, pro-abortion activists have started peacefully demonstrating outside of conservative justice’s homes, causing problems for Republican politicians. Republican governors Glenn Youngkin and Larry Hogan, of Virginia and Maryland respectively, wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to enforce a federal law that bans public demonstrations aimed at influencing justices’ opinions on pending cases. Youngkin has come under fire recently for neglecting to enforce a Virginia state law that bans demonstrations at private residences, but only referred to the federal law in the letter, saying during a Fox News appearance that Garland needs to “do his job.” Protesters maintain that they are exercising their First Amendment rights and do not aim to change justice’s minds—as one demonstrator put it, “I don’t think a bunch of neighbors walking by with candles is going to change Kavanaugh’s mind—or endanger him.”