{"id":1523390,"date":"2022-06-20T07:21:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T11:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1523390"},"modified":"2022-06-20T07:21:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T11:21:45","slug":"would-a-fanatic-have-tried-to-murder-brett-kavanaugh-if-merrick-garland-had-enforced-federal-law-against-intimidation-of-justices-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/would-a-fanatic-have-tried-to-murder-brett-kavanaugh-if-merrick-garland-had-enforced-federal-law-against-intimidation-of-justices-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Would A Fanatic Have Tried To Murder Brett Kavanaugh If Merrick Garland Had Enforced Federal Law Against Intimidation Of Justices?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwould-a-fanatic-have-tried-to-murder-brett-kavanaugh-if-merrick-garland-had-enforced-federal-law-against-intimidation-of-justices-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1523390&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/image-2022-06-17T094940.509-1024x576-1-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Everyone is more or less familiar with the <a href=\"https:\/\/cebcp.org\/evidence-based-policing\/what-works-in-policing\/research-evidence-review\/broken-windows-policing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concept of broken windows<\/a> policing. Theories vary on whether prosecuting minor crimes directly deters more serious crime (because criminals fear the severity of prosecution) or whether it is the fear and withdrawal of citizens from disordered communities that allows more serious crime to come in. <\/p>\n<p>Either way, the theory can be summarized as follows: When law enforcement vigorously prosecutes minor crimes such as littering, loitering, and vandalism, the effect is less serious crime in the community. If you allow one broken window in a building, soon the other windows will be broken, and more severe crime will follow.<\/p>\n<p>Now apply that principle to the current situation regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/05\/02\/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the leaked draft<\/a> of the United States Supreme Court\u2019s decision in <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health. <\/em>Once the draft opinion leaked and appeared to signal that <em>Roe v. Wade <\/em>and <em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey <\/em>would soon be overruled, the protests began. These <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/supreme-court-again-declines-to-rule-in-abortion-case-despite-protests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protests included threats<\/a> to storm and burn down the Supreme Court building, as well as protests outside the personal residences of Supreme Court justices who are likely to vote to overturn <em>Roe<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>The Constitution protects the right to free speech and free assembly, but there are legal limits that clearly apply here. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/1507\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federal law<\/a> is quite clear about pickets or parades that seek to interfere with the administration of justice or influence a judge in the administration of his duty. Such action is criminal, punishable by up to one year in prison. If the pickets were a peaceful assembly of people who support abortion in a public place, such as the Supreme Court building, this would be political activity protected by the First Amendment. <\/p>\n<p>But the protesters are bringing their demonstrations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/crime-and-justice\/commentary\/refusing-prosecute-those-protesting-supreme-court-justices-homes\">to the front yards <\/a>of Supreme Court justices\u2019 private residences. They come in large numbers; they shout through bullhorns; they utter profanities. Since this is in response to a leaked draft of an opinion that the Supreme Court justices have not yet voted on, there is no conceivable intent of such behavior other than to influence the decision. This is a federal crime.<\/p>\n<p>Federal crimes should be prosecuted by federal authorities. Attorney General Merrick Garland was silent about these protests at the justices\u2019 homes when they began. Only recently has he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-06-08\/garland-condemns-violent-threats-against-supreme-court-justices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">condemned the threats of violence<\/a> and vowed the Department of Justice would \u201cdo everything we can to prevent\u201d violence against the Supreme Court justices. Doing everything they can apparently doesn\u2019t include enforcing the directly applicable federal criminal law, since the DOJ has announced no investigations or arrests related to these intimidating protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward one month, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/california-man-threat-kill-justice-kavanaugh-charged-attempted-murder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a radical shows up<\/a> at Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s house with the admitted purpose of assassinating him. Like the protesters, the alleged attempted murderer stated his primary motive was anger about the impending reversal of <em>Roe v. Wade <\/em>as well as his opinion that Justice Kavanaugh would vote to loosen gun restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is what happens when we refuse to enforce the law. Obviously, nobody can look back and say that if the protesters outside the justices\u2019 homes were vigorously prosecuted, this man definitely would not have attempted to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh. But the broken windows theory is telling: Failing to enforce the law on \u201csmaller\u201d issues creates an atmosphere that fosters more serious crime. <\/p>\n<p>If the Department of Justice announced it would relentlessly prosecute any protesters who intended to use intimidation tactics to affect the outcome of the <em>Dobbs <\/em>case, it would create an atmosphere of law and order \u2014 an atmosphere that might dissuade someone from traveling across the country to assassinate a sitting Supreme Court justice. By completely failing to enforce the law, law enforcement allowed a societal window to be broken.<\/p>\n<p>As Rod Dreher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/dreher\/america-land-of-broken-windows-soft-totalitarianism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently wrote<\/a>, we now live in a society full of broken windows, of \u201csmall but telling outward sign[s] of inner disorder.\u201d The escalation of protests that led to the attempted murder of Justice Kavanaugh is one poignant example. <\/p>\n<p>Each time we allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/progressivism\/commentary\/five-months-blm-protestors-trashed-americas-cities-after-the-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protests to turn into violent riots<\/a>, each time we allow the law to be broken because those in power agree with the politics of the lawbreakers, we allow another window to be broken in our society. We send a message that disorder is acceptable. We must draw clearer lines and restore order in our society. If we don\u2019t clean up the graffiti and broken windows of lawlessness, we should expect the disorder to escalate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Frank DeVito is an attorney living in eastern Pennsylvania with his wife and three young children. His work has previously been published in The American Conservative, the Quinnipiac Law Review and the Penn State Online Law Review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone is more or less familiar with the concept of broken windows policing. Theories vary on whether prosecuting minor crimes directly deters more serious crime (because criminals fear the severity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1523390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}