A conservative think tank sued the Justice Department this week in its pursuit of documents as to why it did not prosecute abortion rights activists who staged illegal protests against Supreme Court justices in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade this summer.
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project filed its 31-page lawsuit alleging the DOJ failed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act request that sought documents and communications related to recent protests conducted by “radical abortion supporters” outside the justices’ homes. Protests amassed outside the homes of justices for weeks after a high court draft opinion leaked on May 2, which signaled the justices were poised to allow states more freedom to restrict abortion procedures.
The lawsuit cites 18 U.S.C. § 1507, which has been used to prosecute other offenders in recent years that have disrupted judicial hearings. The law also forbids protests outside the homes of judges and justices despite the fact that liberal activists rallied outside the private residences of justices for weeks before the leaked decision became the final June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
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Roman Jankowski, a senior investigative counsel for the think tank’s Oversight Project, rebuked President Joe Biden‘s DOJ for its “silence on these radical protests and obviously intimidating tactics.”
“The American people deserve to know why Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland not only refused to publicly and unequivocally condemn this behavior, but also why they continue not to prosecute or hold accountable those who facially broke the law in an attempt to influence the proceedings of the Supreme Court,” Jankowski wrote in a press release.
Although the White House and the DOJ took several days after protests began following the May 2 leak, Garland on May 12 sought to reinforce security for the justices by “providing additional support to the Marshal of the Supreme Court and Supreme Court Police,” the attorney general said at the time.
Each of the six Republican-appointed justices endured groups of protesters outside the homes of their private residences, but none were more threatening than a 26-year-old California man’s attempt to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh on June 8 at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Nicholas Roske, the would-be assassin, was arrested by Maryland authorities and has since been charged with attempting to kidnap or murder a sitting judge. The Oversight Project, however, wants to know more about why the activists picketing near the homes of justices are not facing punishment.
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“We think there are answers to those questions in the documents we have requested, and we have a right by law to those documents,” Jankowski said.
The Washington Examiner contacted the DOJ for a response.
