Demonstrators home in
Abortion rights rallies to target Supreme Court justices’ residences
Abortion rights protesters are planning on demonstrating outside Supreme Court justices’ homes in an unprecedented attempt at getting them to reverse a draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade.
The protests could be similar to those outside the home of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who spearheaded an effort to limit when those protests take place and arrest those who violate the new law.
The cowbell ringing protests outside Wu’s Roslindale house were aimed at her vaccine mandate for city workers. So far the protests have not been successful — instead, they spurred Wu to draft an ordinance stopping them from being outside her home before 9 a.m.
But justices are not elected and should not have to feel their lives are in danger — they should be insulated from any outside political pressures or attempts to intimidate them.
The Supreme Court is a cornerstone of democracy in the United States. Justices are supposed to rule on the basis of the Constitution, not be swayed by activist lobbyists.
Some justices are now being labeled as right-wing extremists by politicians like U.S. Sen.Elizabeth Warren, potentially undermining decisions of the court.
Not to mention the leak of the draft opinion, which is unprecedented in the history of the court, and calls to pack the court with extra justices favorable to Democrats.
Even the White House is refusing to condemn protests at the justices’ homes, saying instead that President Biden shares the same outrage that protesters are voicing.
“The president, for all those women, men, others who feel outraged, who feel scared, who feel concerned, he hears them, he shares that concern and that horror that he saw in that draft opinion,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
She said Biden believes in “participating in peaceful protest” — whether it’s at the court or at the homes of some justices believed to support the draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade.
But there have already been heated protests outside the court that have drawn the attention of police, who erected barriers around the historic building on Capitol Hill.
Psaki also declined to agree with the view that abortion rights protestors were extreme.
“Peaceful protest, no,” she said. “Peaceful protest is not extreme. We certainly encourage people to keep it peaceful and not resort to any level of violence.”
Asked whether Biden believed that posting the home addresses of several justices was “peaceful” protesting, Psaki declined to respond.
“I don’t have an official U.S. government position on where people protest,” she said.”We want it of course to be peaceful, and certainly the president would want people’s privacy to be respected. But I think we shouldn’t lose the point here. The reason people are protesting is because women across the country are worried about their fundamental rights that have been law for 50 years.”