OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Angry leftists protesting at Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home earlier this week over his decision to sign on to a draft majority opinion overturning the landmark 1973 abortion legalization ruling Roe v. Wade were exceedingly frightening to at least one observer.
Douglas Blair, a news editor for The Daily Signal, said the pro-abortion protests outside Kavanaugh’s home were “one of the scariest things” he’s ever witnessed.
In an interview on “Fox & Friends” Monday, he labeled the protests an “attempt at intimidation” as he blasted the Biden administration for not more forcefully condemning them.
“This is an attempt at intimidation. And I think it really says a lot, too, that the Biden administration is willing to absolutely let these justices out to dry,” he said.
“They’re not going to say, ‘It’s not acceptable for you to go to somebody’s house and yell and scream.’ That’s not how we do it in this country,” Blair continued.
“I did not see Justice Kavanaugh. My hope is that he wasn’t home. My hope is that he was safe with his family somewhere else because it was genuinely one of the scariest things I’ve ever witnessed,” added Blair.
“Watching these people yell and scream and try and change the vote of what is most possibly the most important vote in the history of this country: The right to live your life and to have a human being survive in the womb,” he said.
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It’s not known whether Kavanaugh and his family were at home but other reports claimed that the author of the draft majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito, and his family have been moved to a secure location.
Meanwhile, critics have pointed to a federal statute that bars protests aimed at intimidating judges and justices into changing their decisions on cases. To that point, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, has vowed to enforce it.
He has “promised to work with both federal and local law enforcement to ensure the safety of Supreme Court justices whose homes have become the focus of protests after the leak of a draft opinion signaling that the conservative majority would overturn Roe v. Wade,” the Washington Examiner reported.
The outlet adds:
The announcement represents another facet of a new push to protect the justices, at least some of whom live in Virginia, including the Senate unanimously passing a bill Monday evening that would provide top-level security services to justices and their families.
“Virginia State Police will assist federal and local law enforcement as needed in order to ensure the safety of our citizens, including Supreme Court Justices, who call Virginia home,” Youngkin noted in a tweet.
Virginia State Police will assist federal and local law enforcement as needed to ensure the safety of our citizens, including Supreme Court Justices, who call Virginia home.
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) May 10, 2022
Youngkin, whose tweets came in response to reports about the protests, said his administration has been “coordinating” with the Fairfax County Police Department and the Virginia State Police in order to ensure no violence.
“Virginia State Police were closely monitoring, fully coordinated with Fairfax County and near the protests,” Youngkin said.
Last week, an unprecedented leak of the draft ruling to POLITICO revealed that five of the court’s conservatives — Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett in addition to Kavanaugh and Alito — signed on to the majority ruling.
That said, the Washington Post reported over the weekend that, according to conservative sources on the high court, the justices had not changed their minds.
The report also noted, however, that the court’s other nominal conservative, the George W. Bush-appointed chief justice, John Roberts, continues to oppose the outright reversal of Roe and instead favors supporting the Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks, which was the case under consideration.
Also, the Post said that Roberts is attempting to persuade Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett to agree with him and take the same “incremental approach.”
