Even in the wake of an assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to condemned the illegal protests targeting justices' homes as the Biden DOJ turns a blind eye to the leftists threatening originalist justices.
Despite saying that the White House wants protests to remain peaceful, Jean-Pierre on Monday said that the Biden administration has "not weighed in on where people should or should not protest," which is true — but it also further implicates President Biden and the White House in the illegal protests targeting originalist justices including Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Samuel Alito.
"We have said that all Americans have the right to peacefully protest whatever their point of view but that attempts at intimidation and violence are totally unacceptable," Jean-Pierre continued before saying such intimidation or violence needs to "be condemned at any time they happen regardless of who does it." So what of illegal demonstrations that are going without condemnation and without prosecution from federal authorities? Those are fine? Apparently.
As Katie wrote last month, these illegal protests are nothing new in the wake of the unprecedented leak that showed a majority of justices voting to overturn Roe v. Wade, but the Biden administration's implicit endorsement of the illegal protests — by refusing to condemn or stop them — isn't new either.
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Republicans have called out the Biden administration from doing nothing to stop the targeted intimidation and harassment, including in a letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland:
While every American enjoys the right to peaceably assemble and to express their opinion, these protests appear to go beyond lawful exercise by impeding the orderly administration of justice, and have no doubt disrupted the lives of these justices and their families. I urge you to take any action necessary, including consideration of 18 U.S.C § 1507, to protect the justices, their families, and the independence of the federal judiciary. You have both the duty and the jurisdiction to do so.
Intervention to protect the lawful functioning of the Supreme Court is warranted under federal statutory law. In 1950, Congress passed into law 18 U.S.C. § 1507, which prohibits picketing, parades or any other demonstrations outside federal courts or the homes of federal judges and justices that are conducted “with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness or court officer, in the discharge of his duty.”
Katie also reported on a separate letter to Garland from Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) that also debunked Jean-Pierre's claim that the protests outside justices' homes are not intimidation:
Across the nation, radical pro-abortion activists have begun a campaign of violence, destruction, and intimidation in response to the leak of a draft document from the Supreme Court. You must vigorously investigate and prosecute the crimes committed in recent days. The rule of law demands no less. This conduct has only one purpose: intimidation. It is also flagrantly illegal.
Still, AG Garland and President Biden refuse to enforce the law or condemn illegal activity to protect justices from rabid leftists. Jean-Pierre then took it a step further on Monday to say that the White House wouldn't be telling protesters where or where not to protest...even when their protests are in violation of federal law.
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