Democrats are threatening to remove security funding for Supreme Court

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Well, I should have seen this coming, but I didn’t. Even I underestimate the willingness of the Democrats to use the threat of violence to force compliance with their demands.

Advertisement

According to both Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, 15 Democrats from the Judiciary Committee have sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee asking that funding for the security that defends the lives of the Supreme Court Justices and their families be denied until the Court buckles to the demands of the Democrats.

As you have undoubtedly noticed, a smear campaign has been directed at the Justices, particularly Justice Thomas. It became so vicious that Thomas’ colleagues took the extraordinary step of chastising the Democrats for their ridiculous smears against the Justice.

The Democrats are making demands that the Court accept a Code of Ethics being pushed by the Left, and apparently, they have threatened to withhold funding for the security details that protect the Justices unless Chief Justice Roberts caves to their demands.

During a Senate Judiciary hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform, Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tore into their Democratic colleagues for “threatening to cut off the funding for the security at the Supreme Court,” as Cruz said.

“The Left is willing to threaten the lives of the justices,” said the Texas senator. “This is disgraceful.”

Advertisement

It’s an outrageous overreach, breaching the inviolable wall between the branches of government. Dictating to the Court with what amounts to a death threat, given the level of vitriol and actual violence that has been directed at the conservative (and only the conservative) members of the Court.

Already the Biden Administration is permitting illegal protests outside the Justices’ houses, and of course, everybody knows about the attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh. Apparently, two other attempts have been foiled.

Further, there are threats against their families, and doxing not just of the Justices but of their children.

Democrats are threatening to open the floodgates unless the Justices cave to their demands.

The level of evil to which the Democrats are willing to descend in order to get their way is limitless. Every time you think they cannot get any more despicable, they surprise you by finding a new way to amass more power.

A friend of mine speculates that at least some Democrats in Congress wouldn’t mind a successful assassination, although I hope that isn’t the case.

Justice Alito pretty much said as much late last week, though, about the leak of the Dobbs decision. He was incandescently angry about the leak and the lack of adequate security to protect the Justices.

Advertisement

Justice Samuel Alito was supposed to speak to law students at George Mason University in Arlington, Va., but when they showed up, he wasn’t there. “That Alito was speaking via closed circuit from a room at the Supreme Court seven miles away, rather than in person, was a sign these are not normal times,” the Washington Post reported. The Post didn’t explain what made the “times” abnormal.

It wasn’t a lingering fear of Covid-19. In a mid-April interview in his chambers, Justice Alito fills us in on the May 12, 2022, event: “Our police conferred with the George Mason Police and the Arlington Police and they said, ‘It’s not a good idea. He shouldn’t come here. . . . The security problems will be severe.’ So I ended up giving the speech by Zoom,” he says. “Still, there were so many protesters and they were so loud that you could hear them.”

In these times the safety of the Supreme Court is entirely dependent upon extremely heavy security. If Riley Gaines can be swarmed and assaulted for simply speaking her mind at a University, imagine what crowds or activists might do to change the balance of power on the Supreme Court.

How tight is the current security?

He adds that “I don’t feel physically unsafe, because we now have a lot of protection.” He is “driven around in basically a tank, and I’m not really supposed to go anyplace by myself without the tank and my members of the police force.” Deputy U.S. marshals guard the justices’ homes 24/7. (The U.S. Marshals Service, a bureau of the Justice Department, is distinct from the marshal of the court, who reports to the justices and oversees the Supreme Court Police.)

A federal law called Section 1507 makes it a crime to picket or parade “in or near” a federal judge’s residence “with the intent of influencing” him “in the discharge of his duty.” During a hearing last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland told Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) that the marshals have “full authority to arrest” violators of Section 1507. But according to training slides obtained by Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.), deputies on the justices’ residential details are told to enforce the law only as “a last resort to prevent physical harm to the Justices and/or their families.”

Advertisement

Now the Democrats are threatening to take away that security.

If you aren’t convinced by now that the Democrats have become budding tyrants, I am not certain what might convince you. Threatening the Supreme Court with death by mob unless it buckles to their demands is exactly on brand for today’s Democrat Party.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
Advertisement
David Strom 11:20 AM | November 21, 2024
Advertisement