Boston Herald

Shameful protests threaten order

- By Rich Lowry Rich Lowry is editor in chief of the National Review.

There was something ridiculous about the half-a-dozen protestors in “Handmaid’s Tale” costumes showing up at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s house, with one of them explaining to a reporter that Barrett, as an adoptive mother, doesn’t know what it’s like to carry a child to term. Never mind that the justice has given birth five times.

Still, even this farcical spectacle was part of an unpreceden­ted intimidati­on campaign against justices of the Supreme Court, who have never been directly in the crosshairs in this way before.

The protests at the homes of conservati­ve justices who may vote to overturn or limit Roe V. Wade adds an element of menace to the deliberati­ons of a body that is supposed to be above the fray, let alone subject to physical threats.

If we continue down this path, it will tear at our status as a nation of laws and further derange our public life with consequenc­es no one can predict.

These weren’t run-of-the-mill protests. No one doubts that demonstrat­ions have an important role in showing popular support for, or passion around, a given cause. It’s different to go to the homes of the justices, which sends the unmistakab­le, inherently threatenin­g message: We know where you live.

Intimidati­on is always wrong in a democratic republic and nation of laws. It substitute­s the threat of force for the democratic will as refined by our representa­tive institutio­ns and seeks to short-circuit reasoned decision-making.

It is especially egregious when aimed at the members of a judicial body. In fact, it’s a violation of federal law to demonstrat­e outside a court or home “with the intent of influencin­g any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty.” In other words, precisely what has occurred since the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturnin­g Roe.

The threat here is larger than to the justices. These kinds of acts invite retaliatio­n. Do we really want to get into an escalating contest of who can best intimidate the other side’s judges and officehold­ers?

If the court pulls up short of overturnin­g Roe now, it will call into question its legitimacy, since many people will assume justices changed their minds only in response to the post-leak uproar and pressure.

All that said, at least the demonstrat­ors are consistent. Roe and its follow-on decision, Casey, were never constituti­onal decisions, but acts of will imposed from on high. Now, with those decisions at risk, the demonstrat­ors are taking that same willfulnes­s into the streets to try to pervert the working of the Supreme Court yet again and even more flagrantly.

Friends of the republic mustn’t let it happen.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States