Tipsheet

House Dems Block SCOTUS Protection Bill Hours After Failed Murder Plot Against Kavanaugh

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 09, 2022 12:30 PM

In the early morning hours on Wednesday, 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske of Simi Valley, California, was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home. The suspect told police that he wanted to kill the justice. Yet House Democrats lacked the urgency to protect the justices and refused to let legislation come up for a vote same that night. They blocked it again on Thursday morning. 

During his remarks, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pointed out that the Senate quickly considered and unanimously passed such legislation a month ago and accused House Democrats of "let[ting] that bill gather dust" and reminded that "this is the same party whose heated rhetoric has encouraged political pressure on conservative justices." 

He mentioned how former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said they "encourage" protests outside justice's homes. McCarthy also referred to inciteful remarks from then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made in 2020 against Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch if they did not vote the way he wanted them to on abortion. 

"With words like that and threats like these, Congress cannot afford to wait. We have a duty to protect the Court, the justices, and their families from political violence and intimidation, and we can meet that duty tonight, before the House adjourns, by sending that bill to the president's desk," McCarthy said on Wednesday night. 

McCarthy asked for "unanimous consent" and "immediate consideration in the House." While the bill was cleared on the side of Republican leadership, it did not come up for a vote. 

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blasted Democrats for refusing to vote on the bill, as did Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who sponsored the legislation in the Senate. The issue has also found its way into the key race between Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Val Demings (D-FL), the Democratic front-runner who will likely be the nominee to challenge him in November. 

During a press conference on Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) dismissively responded, "Well, the justices are protected, as you all know," and blamed timeline issues on how they "were awaiting language from the Senate so that we could be completely up to date as to what they wanted to do." She also passed the buck onto House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who is "running that" and expects to vote on the bill today, as some are also reporting, or the beginning of next week. 

Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman has also tweeted about a timeline and Pelosi's excuse, adding that House Democrats have wanted to protect not just law clerks but their family members as well.  

During his own press conference on Thursday, McCarthy continued to hammer Pelosi for doing nothing and holding up the bill. He questioned how Pelosi could have claimed that nobody was at threat and suggested that House Democrats were "playing politics" by holding up the bill. 

House Democrats are set on protecting the person who leaked Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion indicating that the Court is looking to overturn Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson. Since then, there has been a pattern of violence and vandalism against pro-life organizations, and protesters have shown up outside the homes of conservative justices. A month before this murder plot against Justice Kavanaugh, Justice Alito was moved to an undisclosed location. 

This failure to vote on a bill that passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent isn't the only shameful excuse from the Democratic Party. 

Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris has released statements or even tweeted about the failed murder plot. The same goes for the White House or Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. What we do have is a not quite believable statement that Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates gave to Fox News, claiming that Biden condemns it and his spokespeople always have. 

Biden didn't condemn or even address the murder plot during his appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Wednesday night, as Spencer highlighted. He did say, however, that he doesn't think "this country will stand for it" if the U.S. Supreme Court does indeed overturn Roe v. Wade, which it is expected to officially do later this month, and even predicted a "mini-revolution."