Insurrection.
I’ve said it before, let me say it again, if a judge in any apolitical case were being targeted at his or her home with angry protests and death threats, those responsible would very quickly be in prison and the protests would be shut down by a heavy law enforcement presence.
This is happening because the Biden administration and its allies, which include Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, refuse to enforce the law.
At this point we’re far past a discussion in “right-wing media”. The Supreme Court has directly requested and been turned down by, among others, Gov. Hogan, who keeps prattling about “political norms”.
Gail Curley, the Supreme Court’s marshal, has written to the governors of Maryland and Virginia and local officials in suburban Washington, D.C., asking them to enforce state and county laws that prohibit picketing at private homes.
In the letter to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, she said laws in his state prohibits assembling “with another in a manner that disrupts a person’s right to tranquility in the person’s home,” and provides a penalty of up to 90 days in jail.
A “Republican”.
“Since then, protest activity at justices’ homes, as well as threatening activity, has only increased,” Curley said in the letter, with large groups using bullhorns and banging drums. “This is exactly the kind of conduct that Maryland and Montgomery County laws prohibit.”
And if right-wing protesters were doing this at Kagan and Sotomayor’s homes, there would be action.
In a letter to Marc Elrich, the executive of Montgomery County, Curley said a separate county law prohibits picketing “in front of or adjacent to any private residence.” She noted that the author of the county ordinance has urged county officials to enforce the law against protesters who gather outside the justices’ homes.
Both letters to the Maryland officials were dated Friday. The marshal also sent letters Saturday to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and Jeffrey McKay, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Northern Virginia, where other justices’ live, asking for enforcement of a similar Virginia law.
Virginia may or may not enforce the laws on a state level, Gov Hogan and Elrich have made it clear that they won’t.
The response from Maryland officials was lukewarm. In a statement on Saturday, Hogan’s office said the Maryland Attorney General’s office has questioned the constitutionality of the state’s anti-picketing law, and noted that the Justice Department has declined to enforce federal laws that would stop the demonstrations.
“In light of the continued refusal by multiple federal entities to act, the governor has directed Maryland state police to further review enforcement options that respect the First Amendment and the Constitution,” said Michael Ricci, Hogan’s communications director.
The Federal entities in question are under the control of the Biden administration which supports active intimidation of justices. But that has nothing to do with Hogan’s refusal to do so.
The First Amendment does not protect harassing people in their homes. It certainly does not protect intimidating judges in their homes.
There are laws on the books here. State and local officials are deliberately refusing to enforce them because they support the intimidation.
