(NewsNation Now) — The Supreme Court marshal, who is tasked with keeping members of the court safe, seems to have had enough of protests held outside justices’ homes since the court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Marshal Gail Curley wrote letters to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and certain county officials calling on their agencies to step in and stop the protests outside justices’ homes.
The letters say the protests violate laws already on the books in both states that prohibit picketing at private homes. They also warn the protests and threats at the justices’ homes have only increased recently.
“Protesters gathered outside one justice’s Fairfax County home chanting expletives. And dozens appeared outside another’s Fairfax County home chanting ‘no privacy for us, no peace for you!’ This is exactly the kind of conduct that Virginia law prohibits,” said one of the letters to Youngkin.
NewsNation spoke to a constitutional expert who says the law here is tricky. Of course protestors have a First Amendment right to protest, but he says law enforcement in these cases likely has the authority to break them up if they’re concentrated on one specific home, rather than walking up and down a public street.
Both governors have already expressed concerns about the protests, but they say it’s Attorney General Merrick Garland who should be enforcing a federal law that prohibits such protests aimed at influencing justices from taking place outside their homes.
