After six pro-life demonstrators were found guilty this week of conspiracy and violating a federal law against blocking abortion clinics, certain conservatives are convinced that the United States operates under a two-tiered justice system.
If these conservatives are patient, they’ll see this belief put to the test.
The pro-life activists, who were convicted of civil rights conspiracy as well as violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, are looking at a “maximum of 10 and a half years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $260,000,” the Department of Justice announced this week. Though the FACE Act charge is a serious one, the possibility of 11 years is based largely on the conspiracy charge (the six pro-lifers crossed state lines and pre-planned their 2021 “blockade” of the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee).
The verdict and the possibility of more than 10 years in prison, conservatives say, is a prime example of our two-tiered justice system, one where violent left-wingers go free while the Justice Department throws the book at peaceful conservatives.
After all, these critics say, look at the protests that descended on the homes of Supreme Court justices after it was leaked that the conservative-majority court planned to overturn Roe v. Wade. The menace and harassment those protests brought were in clear violation of federal statutes barring the intimidation of judges, yet the Justice Department was conspicuously slow to get involved — let alone enforce the law. The DOJ was all but missing in action up until around the time a man who intended to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh was arrested near the judge’s home.
Or look at all those pro-Hamas crowds blocking major highways and airport entrances and exits, trapping motorists and pedestrians in gridlock traffic. These protests block the free flow of interstate travel and commerce. As such, the roadblock protests represent serious violations of federal law, warranting the DOJ’s intervention. Yet the DOJ drags its feet. Federal law enforcement officials appear hesitant to do anything at all.
What about Portland, Oregon? Left-wing agitators laid siege to a federal courthouse, battling federal agents for weeks, and the worst those activists got was a slap on the wrist. Citywide, nearly half of the Portland protest-related cases brought by the Justice Department were dismissed almost immediately. Sure, one Indiana man landed himself a 10-year prison sentence for what he did in Portland, but that was just one conviction. Of the arrests that were made nationwide in connection to the 2020 anti-police riots, those who even made it to sentencing were treated with exceptional leniency.
“At least 19 who have been sentenced across the country got no prison time or time served,” the Associated Press reported in 2021. “Many pleaded guilty to lower-level offenses, such as misdemeanor assault, but some were convicted of more serious charges, including civil disorder.”
The authorities aren’t even going to charge the gay former congressional staffer who filmed a sex tape in a Senate hearing room.
Yet, conservative critics argue, pro-life activists may spend up to 11 years in prison just for praying and singing hymns outside of an abortion clinic in Tennessee. If this isn’t proof of a lopsided justice system, then what is?
These complaints, no matter how righteous and indignant, miss the mark. It’s apples-to-oranges to compare the sentencing and legal treatment of the pro-life demonstrators with, say, the Portland protesters — because, well, they involve different crimes and charges. The pro-life demonstrators were hit with FACE Act violations as well as conspiracy charges. Rather than point to federal inaction or leniency regarding road blockages or riots, the best way to prove the two-tiered justice system theory is to test the DOJ’s treatment of the pro-life demonstrations against its handling of pro-abortion activists charged with the same crimes.
As it so happens, there are a few in the queue.
On Jan. 24, 2023, the Justice Department charged two people with civil rights conspiracy and FACE Act violations after the couple allegedly targeted crisis pregnancy centers in Florida. On March 29, 2023, the DOJ announced the same charges against two others, alleging they had participated in the attacks on Florida crisis pregnancy centers. The authorities have also charged an Ohio woman with FACE Act violations, claiming she vandalized a pregnancy center in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Though it’s easy to point to, say, the Justice Department’s sluggish response to Supreme Court protests versus its prosecution of pro-life demonstrators as evidence of a prejudiced justice system, the two examples aren’t quite comparable. If you want to know where we stand, you need to compare similar cases.
And if you want to know whether the deck is stacked, wait and see what happens to the pro-life and pro-abortion activists charged with the same violations.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Becket Adams is a columnist for the Washington Examiner, National Review, and the Hill. He is also the program director of the National Journalism Center.
