Updated 3:33 p.m.
Nationwide elements of the Tea Party plan to crash Washington in advance of the Supreme Court’s six-hour debate on Obamacare in hopes of putting public pressure on the court to kill President Obama’s signature legislation.
“Public opinion does sway courts from time to time,” said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, which already has 20 buses of energized protesters signed up to attend their “Road to Repeal.” She added, “We want to make sure people who oppose it know that they are not alone.”
Tea Party Patriots, Americans for Prosperity and Stand Up for Religious Freedom, are the leading groups expected to camp out at the court and on the Capitol Grounds during the weekend before the court debate and as it is going on March 26-28.
It could be the biggest Tea Party protest in over a year, Martin told Washington Secrets. “We’ll see Tea Party pressure back in D.C. then,” she said. The biggest Tea Party protest came in September 2009 and it too was over Obamacare.
Tea Party Patriots is planning a huge event Saturday March 24 at the Capitol that will feature Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who’s arguing against Obamacare before the justices, former presidential candidate Herman Cain, and prominent conservative House members Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. During the Supreme Court debate, they will be picketing in front of the courthouse.
Court watchers don’t believe that public pressure will make the difference, though it will show support for the majority conservative wing which is expected to question the president’s mandate that all citizens buy health insurance, a demand some say oversteps Constitutional freedoms. “This is the first and important step to repealing the law,” said Martin.
Update
The other major Tea Party group, FreedomWorks, tells us they are also going to be a major player that weekend. From their spokesman:
“We are delivering a petition with 30,000 signatures in support of repealing ObamaCare to the Supreme Court and Congress. We are also handing out hundreds of copies of our amicus legal brief to the activists coming to town that week, and encouraging them to visit congressional staff to talk about the continuing importance of repealing ObamaCare.
