A group offering bounty payments for sightings of conservative Supreme Court justices is the latest harassment campaign prompting Republican lawmakers to call for immediate action by the Justice Department.
Piling on top of recent protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices, the activist group known as ShutDownDC tweeted July 8 that it would offer to pay bounties of up to $200 for anyone who reports the whereabouts of Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts, part of a pressure campaign against the court’s members who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last month.
The tweet came one day after abortion rights protesters showed up at a restaurant in Washington, D.C., where Kavanaugh was dining, forcing him to exit through a back door. Additionally, it was just over a month ago when 26-year-old Nicholas Roske traveled from California to the justice’s Maryland home in an alleged attempt to assassinate Kavanaugh.
While President Joe Biden‘s administration has strongly condemned any acts of aggression or violence against high court justices, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said peaceful protests are permitted. When pressed Thursday in response to a question about protesters targeting Kavanaugh outside a D.C. steakhouse, she said: “If it’s outside of a restaurant, if it’s peaceful, for sure.”
But for conservative activists and Republican lawmakers, the actions by some protesters targeting justices’ homes and their dining establishments is a violation of “clear federal law,” Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino told the Washington Examiner.
“There’s a federal law here that has been utterly ignored by the Biden administration through Attorney General Merrick Garland. And it’s outrageous that this type of behavior has been allowed to continue,” Severino added.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday elevated his concerns for Supreme Court safety, calling on Garland to testify on the steps the DOJ has taken and come before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to discuss matters pertaining to the overturning of Roe, according to a letter sent to Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL).
“Unfortunately, despite clear evidence that federal law was violated by mobs of protesters at the Justices’ homes, the head of the Department of Justice, and chief law enforcement officer of the United States, flatly refused to enforce federal law,” Cruz wrote.
Cruz cited 18 U.S. Code §1507, a federal statute that makes it illegal to try to “influence” a justice, judge, or juror by demonstrating outside the person’s residence. Such laws have often been touted by court watchers wary that intense demonstrations may threaten judicial independence by harassing jurists and disturbing their neighbors, additionally leaving their families susceptible to threats or intimidation.
“With people in front of the justices’ homes, you can have 99% of them be peaceful, and you’ve got one crazy person like the guy who tried to kill Kavanaugh,” Severino said, adding that “it doesn’t matter if most of them are peaceful. That’s why those laws exist.”
Although Congress recently passed a Supreme Court security bill that extends the same protections of the justices to their immediate family members, the high court’s chief security marshal called on officials in Maryland in Virginia, where many of the justices live, to address “threatening activity” outside several of the justices’ homes over the July 4th weekend.
While both Govs. Larry Hogan and Glenn Youngkin have expressed concerns about the protests outside private homes and vowed for them to be “adequately protected,” they have also said it’s up to the U.S. attorney general to step in.
“I wish we could do more, and this is why I called on Attorney General Garland to enforce federal law, which is so clear. You can’t parade and picket in front of a judge’s home and try to influence them,” Youngkin told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Justice Department for comment.
