At a weekly press conference on Tuesday, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he’s comfortable with protests that target Supreme Court justices’ private homes so long as those protests are peaceful:
Q: "Are you comfortable with the protests that we saw outside the homes of Supreme Court justices over the weekend?"@SenSchumer: "If protests are peaceful; yes. My house, there's protests 3-4 times a week outside my house." pic.twitter.com/Mlu5dbHDbr
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 10, 2022
Here are a couple videos of protests outside the homes of Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Alito:
“Abort the court” pic.twitter.com/5XIdqwaat8
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 10, 2022
The energy is markedly more negative outside Kavanaugh’s house. The anger has become much more palpable than outside any other justices’ house. pic.twitter.com/zY2OY34hcA
— Douglas Blair (@DouglasKBlair) May 8, 2022
But some have pointed out that even peaceful protests at Supreme Court justices homes appear to be a violation of federal law:
Missing here: an acknowledgment that protesting in front of a judge's house to influence his/her decision is already against federal law (18 USC 1507), and that POTUS has told DOJ to enforce it. https://t.co/RFgEsCNls9
— 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘑. 𝘋𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 (@StevenJDuffield) May 9, 2022
Here’s the text of the law (emphasis added):
Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer, or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building or residence, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.