The Missouri Attorney General’s office and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) are urging the U.S. Attorney General to hold accountable pro-abortion protesters who rally in front of the homes of U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Attorney General Schmitt signed onto a letter that cited 'escalating extremism directed at the judicial branch' in a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that asked the former judge to play his obvious role.
“You can and should act accordingly by faithfully executing federal law to prevent protestors from attempting to intimidate the Justices of the Supreme Court, both to protect the Justices and to safeguard the rule of law,” wrote Steve Marshall, the state of Alabama’s attorney general, in the May 11 letter.
Some 23 other attorneys general joined Schmitt in signing the letter, which was written after a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization by the U.S. Supreme Court was improperly leaked before it was finalized, which sparked pro-abortion protests across the nation.
“Pro-abortion activists have begun protesting not just outside the Supreme Court, but outside the Justices’ homes, in the hope of pressuring the Justices to change their votes,” Marshall further stated in the five-page letter. “As a former federal judge and the current head of the Department of Justice, you must surely appreciate the unique risks to both judges and the rule of law when judges are targeted at their homes.”
Garland served as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before being appointed as U.S. Attorney General by current U.S. President Joe Biden.
“If Roe versus Wade is reversed, it’s going to hurt Republican candidates in the upcoming election,” said Kenneth Warren, a St. Louis University professor of political science. “Obviously, the letter is trying to stop the demonstrations by pro-choice proponents, but they can't really do that because any suggestion to stop it is absurd. They clearly have a right to demonstrate.”
Sen. Hawley also sent a letter to Garland citing federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 1507, which criminalizes picketing or parading in or near a building or residence occupied or used by a judge with the intent of influencing the judge.
“Across the nation, radical pro-abortion activists have begun a campaign of violence, destruction, and intimidation in response to the leak of a draft document from the Supreme Court,” Hawley wrote in the May 10 letter. “You must vigorously investigate and prosecute the crimes committed in recent days.”
Warren sees it differently. He told the St. Louis Record that 18 U.S.C. 1507 would likely be deemed unconstitutional if it were challenged in court.
“That would be up to a court to decide whether or not that law Hawley is citing is constitutional,” he added.