Hogan, Youngkin Urge Biden Justice Dept. to Stop Protests at Supreme Court Justices’ Homes
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.
The Republican governors of Maryland and Virginia sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday evening asking the Biden administration to stop the protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices in their states.
Demonstrators have gathered outside justices’ homes in the wake of the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion signaling the overturning of Roe v. Wade next month.
Maryland’s Larry Hogan and Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin joined forces to ask the Justice Department to enforce a federal statute that forbids any effort to try and influence how a judge may rule.
“It is in your hands to ensure that applicable federal law is enforced to preserve the integrity of our American judicial system and the safety of our citizens,” the governors wrote to Garland.
Hogan tweeted out a copy of the letter on Wednesday evening, with the text:
Today, @GovernorVA and I sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on the Department of Justice to provide adequate resources to keep the Supreme Court justices and their families safe amid ongoing protests at their homes.
Today, @GovernorVA and I sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on the Department of Justice to provide adequate resources to keep the Supreme Court justices and their families safe amid ongoing protests at their homes. pic.twitter.com/6D0bMGSp3q
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) May 11, 2022
The letter, however, makes the case for Garland to end the protests altogether.
“In short, federal law prohibits picketing the home of a judge with the aim to influence the judge’s decision making process,” the governors argue.
The letter defends the right to protest a “final opinion from the Supreme Court,” but argues that “the circumstances of the current picketing at the Justices’ private homes in residential neighborhoods are markedly different.”
The governors cite United States Federal Code, 18 U.S. Code G 1507, which reads:
Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer, or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building or residence, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
The governors also note they are “deeply concerned by reports of demonstrators using threatening language such as these comments to ABC News: ‘His [sic Justice Alito’s intrusion into our rights deserves some intrusion into his peace and comfort and ‘Wf you take away our choices, we will riot.’”
The letter concludes with the governors asking Garland to “ensure these residential areas are secure.”
