Some Dems warn abortion rights demonstrators not to go overboard
On Monday morning, White House press secretary Jen Psaki sent out a 42-word tweet.
“@POTUS strongly believes in the Constitutional right to protest. But that should never include violence, threats, or vandalism. Judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety.” she wrote.
The Twitter missive was unremarkable — President Joe Biden and his team have long denounced violence at protests — but for the fact that it seemed penned in response to recent abortion rights demonstrations, an attempt to head off what Republicans are trying to weaponize as a political issue.
After a leaked draft opinion one week ago indicated that the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion rights supporters have organized protests at the homes of some of the conservative Supreme Court justices, and the headquarters of an antiabortion group in Madison, Wis., was vandalized.
Two molotov cocktails were found inside the headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action, which was set on fire May 8, as well as defaced with graffiti reading, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” The same evening, two molotov cocktails were thrown at the Oregon Right to Life office in a
suburb of Salem, and two Catholic churches in Colorado, including one known for its antiabortion stance,
were vandalized.
Republicans were quick to pounce, with GOP lawmakers sending more than a dozen tweets attacking Biden and Democrats and calling on themto condemn the abortion rights demonstrators.
“Joe Biden should call on his supporters to stand down,” Sen. Josh Hawley, RMo., wrote in a tweet. “Stop burning pro-life offices, stop threatening violence against Supreme Court Justices. These are Biden’s people. Do something about it.”
Many Democrats and abortion rights activists say the complaints are a willful distraction from the real issue — that the high court seems poised to roll back rights that have been in place for a half-century. Disruptive abortion rights demonstrations have been minimal, they add, especially in comparison to the hostile demonstrations that targeted abortion clinics for decades.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday he was comfortable with activists demonstrating outside the justices’ homes, as long as they are not violent. “If protests are peaceful, yes,” Mr. Schumer said. “There’s protests three or four times a week outside my house.
That’s the American way.”
But Republicans have seized on the issue. Some are even implicitly comparing the demonstrations to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which resulted in numerous injuries, several deaths and significant damage.
“Will the DOJ be issuing arrest warrants for abortion protesters trying to intimidate justices to change their minds on overturning Roe?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tweeted, referring to the Department of Justice. “Do laws matter anymore or just politics?”
A White House official said Ms. Psaki’s tweet was in line with Mr. Biden’s long-held position condemning violence of any sort, including after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.
In the days after Floyd’s death, as violent protests erupted across the nation, Mr. Biden repeatedly called for calm. “This is no time for incendiary tweets,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s no time to encourage violence.”
While Democrats dismissed the Republican complaints as disingenuous, a person familiar with the White House’s thinking said there is potential risk if the abortion rights demonstrations turn violent, or if there is a marked uptick in vandalism targeting anti abortion organizations.
Democrats hope the draft opinion — and the expected final opinion in the coming weeks — will galvanize voters to turn out for the midterms and back their candidates. But if the passion turns violent, it could backfire, this person said.
Already, a fence surrounds the Supreme Court, in anticipation of protests of the court’s decisions before its work is completed sometime this summer, in late June or early July. There was also enhanced security at the recent 11th Circuit Judicial Conference, a
gathering of judges and lawyers where Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas spoke.
Justice Samuel Alito, the author of the draft opinion, canceled an appearance at a different conference recently, and his planned appearance at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University has been turned into a virtual event.
Sens. Christopher A. Coons, D-Del., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation last week that would expand security protection to Supreme Court justices’ family members, and it quickly passed the Senate. In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan announced he is ordering state law enforcement to protect the homes of justices who live in Maryland.
For now, most Democratic strategists and operatives say they are not worried about political blowback from Republicans seizing on what are so far isolated incidents and peaceful, if at times raucous, demonstrations at justices’ homes.
“Let’s just be real about what’s important and what’s not,” said Democratic pollster John Anzalone.
“If you are a pro-choice suburban woman, or you are a non-college-educated woman, white or Black, if you are distressed about what is about to happen, there is not going to be much of anything that’s going to get in the way of you being distressed,” added Mr. Anzalone, who worked on Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign. “They’re taking away an incredibly important right that could criminalize your behavior and potentially lead to people’s deaths.”
Sonja Spoo, director of reproductive rights campaigns for UltraViolet, a gender justice advocacy group, argued that Democratic leaders should focus on the threat of abortion rights being taken away.