GOP lawmakers want to know why protesters outside Supreme Court justices’ homes haven’t been arrested.

Republicans Demand Answers from DOJ Over Failure to Arrest Protesters Outside Supreme Court Justices’ Homes

Two congressional Republicans are demanding answers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its failures to arrest protesters outside the homes of Supreme Court justices. This comes after an unprecedented breach of Supreme Court secrecy in June 2022 revealed that the high court was poised to overturn the constitutionally protected right to an abortion. Following this breach, many mounted protests outside the homes of conservative justices.

Section 1507 of the U.S. Code prohibits the picketing of justices or other federal judges to change the outcome of a legal case. But when demonstrators showed up at the homes of conservative justices over the leaked draft version of the opinion, U.S. Marshals made few arrests in connection with the statute.

Republicans Demand Answers

On March 30, Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) revealed that this was not a mistake, that training materials given to U.S. Marshals strongly discouraged Marshals from making Section 1507 arrests. The materials (pdf) revealed during the hearing showed that U.S. Marshals were explicitly directed to not arrest protesters at the justices’ homes.

Now, Britt and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are demanding answers. Jordan, who chairs the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, addressed a letter to Ronald Davis, who leads the U.S. Marshal Service (USMS).

In the letter, he called Britt’s discoveries “particularly troubling given the long line of recent left-wing attempts to intimidate and influence the Court.” Jordan noted past attempts by Democrats to radically restructure the Supreme Court, wanting to add more justices or otherwise be less powerful.

In March 2020, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued an ominous warning to Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they had “released the whirlwind,” and would “pay the price.”

Jordan said that the training materials provided to the U.S. Marshals “strongly suggest that the Biden Administration is continuing to weaponize federal law enforcement agencies for partisan purposes.”

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Britt wrote: “During the roughly two-month period between the leak of the draft opinion and the issuance of the Court’s final opinion in Dobbs, multiple Supreme Court Justices were subject to illegal and continuous protest activity at their personal residences.”

Garland Lied Under Oath: Britt

Britt suggested that Garland had lied under oath in light of the discovery of the training materials and newly-discovered post orders to U.S. Marshals.

Britt reported the discovery of post orders to Marshals dated May 19, 2022, stating that “Although there may be state and federal laws concerning protest activity around residences, the USMS is not in a position to enforce those laws.” Later orders dated June 4, 2022, state that USMS deputies should not engage protesters “unless they attempt to enter private property.”