Republicans demand to know why federal statute banning protests outside justices’ homes not enforced

U.S. Marshals dispatched last year to protect Supreme Court justices in light of the Dobbs leak did not receive protesters outside the justices’ homes, according to internal records obtained by four senators, even though federal law prohibits such activity. prohibits.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the GOP senators said “mail orders” from last spring show that the officers were specifically told not to enforce the federal statute that prohibits protests at judges’ or federal judges’ homes.

‘[A]While there may be state and federal laws regarding protest activity around residences, the USMS is unable to enforce those laws,” a series of orders said, according to the letter led by Senator Katie Britt, R-Ala. .

Another set of orders told Marshals not to “enlist demonstrators” unless they attempted to enter private property,” the letter said.

Britt and three other Republicans said their findings contradict Garland’s own testimony before Congress earlier this year, which told Marshals they have “full authority to arrest people under any federal statute,” including section 1507, the anti-protest law.

Protesting outside the homes of federal judges is specifically prohibited when done “with intent to interfere with, impede, or impede the administration of justice, or with intent to influence any judge, juror, witness, or court official.”

The protests came before the final decision in the Dobbs case.

Garland said in a March hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that Marshals had the power to make arrests “under any federal statute, including that federal [anti-protesting] statue, but they must decide on the spot whether they can do so in a way that is safe and capable of protecting their main mission.”

Protesters march outside Kavanaugh’s home in suburban Maryland in June after the court’s decision on Roe v. Wade

Garland emphasized that he was “the first Attorney General ever to direct the Marshals to protect the Judges’ residences and protect them 24/7.”

The attorney general said he didn’t know any details about the instructions to the Marshals until Britt showed him some at the hearing in March.

Britt said her office had received the marshal’s orders “from several whistleblowers individually.”

“In the wake of your appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it became apparent that your testimony was misleading and inaccurate,” wrote Britt, joined by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Mike Lee of Utah.

U.S. Marshals are still protecting the judges around the clock, though Garland has said he hopes Supreme Court police can handle that job soon.

Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has now launched an investigation into leads given to the Marshals.

The investigation comes a year after the Dobbs decision leaked like a bombshell that would overturn Roe v. Wade — sending shockwaves across the country and sparking protests in front of judges’ homes for a time.

Jordan wrote a letter asking U.S. Marshals Service Director Ronald L. Davis for information about the training materials Marshals received when they were sent to the judges’ homes.

Police stand outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on June 29, five days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade

Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, Calif., caused the biggest security scare by bringing a gun, knife and burglary tools to Kavanaugh’s home in early June, police said. He has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a federal judge and will face trial in August

“The training materials provided to the US Marshals strongly suggest that the Biden administration continues to arm federal law enforcement agencies for partisan purposes,” Jordan wrote.

“While authorities arrested the man who intended to harm Justice Kavanaugh, we are not aware of any other arrests or charges for agitators who demonstrated outside judges’ homes — despite the actions clearly in violation of federal law. law,” Jordan said in the letter, referring to a July 2022 arrest of a man outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home who threatened to kill justice and turned out to be armed.

Jordan requested documents and communications between the US Marshals Service and the Department of Justice, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Executive Office of the President regarding enforcement of the statute of the day of the leak – May 2, 2022 – to the present.

He requested the information no later than May 17 at 5 p.m.