The marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court has asked Martland and Virginia officials to enforce state laws that prohibit protests outside justices’ homes after weeks of demonstrations favoring abortion rights.
In four letters sent to Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland; Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia; Jeffrey McKay, the chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; and Marc Elrich, the Montgomery County executive, the Supreme Court marshal, Gail A. Curley, cited protests and “threatening activity” in her request, according to the New York Times.
Demonstrations began at the justices’ home after the leaked draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade was published online on May 2, 2022. At the time, Hogan said he was “deeply concerned” that hundreds of people were picketing outside the homes of some justices, according to NBC.
All six of the Republican-appointed justices live in wealthy enclaves in Fairfax County, Va., and Montgomery County, Md., which border Washington.
“Protesters gathered outside one Justice’s Fairfax County home chanting expletives,” read the letter to Governor Youngkin, which was sent on Saturday. “And dozens appeared outside another’s Fairfax County home chanting ‘no privacy for us, no peace for you!’ This is exactly this kind of conduct that Virginia law prohibits.”
The laws cited by the Supreme Court marshall are both state and local ordinances in Maryland and Virginia that prohibit various kinds of demonstrations outside of private residences with certain exceptions, but it is unclear whether protesters have necessarily violated the laws.
According to Axios, Curley also referred to the arrest last month of a California man who was found with a pistol and other weapons near the Chevy Chase, Md., home of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Nicholas John Roske was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly told detectives he traveled from California to Maryland intending to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Roske allegedly told detectives that he was upset about the leak of a Supreme Court draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade and the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
The direct request by the court puts it at odds with the Justice Department, which, while providing US marshals, has not taken steps to limit the protests as long as they are peaceful.
