(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Newly-released FBI emails and documents revealed that bureau officials were acutely aware of the potential for violent and disruptive protests to erupt at the homes of Supreme Court justices after the overturn of Roe, but did not act on the information.
In the immediate aftermath of the infamous leak of the court’s draft opinion that foreshadowed Roe’s demise, the FBI sent a report to several field offices and local police departments highlighting news articles about pro-abortion protests “outside the homes of the Supreme Court’s six conservative justices,” according to documents obtained by the Daily Signal.
“After each news article listed in the FBI’s May 12 report, acronyms indicate which FBI offices have jurisdiction and an investigative interest in each event,” reported the Daily Signal.
The “investigative interest” never materialized into action, despite the report name-checking radical, pro-abortion domestic terror groups with reputations for violence and vandalism.
The report included links to articles from the Daily Mail and The Hill, with revelatory headlines like “The left-wing firebrands backing protests at SCOTUS judges’ houses.” Another flagged article covered Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s demands for more security at the homes of the justices.
Both articles referenced the abortion-terrorists Ruth Sent Us, one of the leading activist groups that fomented and led disruptive and intimidating protests outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices.
Some warnings were sent to FBI field offices in Washington and Baltimore, while others were distributed to multiple field offices. In all cases, no action was taken in response to the dire warnings. The FBI report was obtained through an information request to the Virginia State Police.
“The FBI normally doesn’t release information to the public regarding items of investigative interest, indicating that Virginia State Police may have released the document to The Daily Signal in error,” the news outlet reported.
“What that FOIA revealed is that there is an FBI investigative interest in these stories,” said Roman Jankowski, senior investigative counsel on The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.
“Unfortunately, regardless of the theoretical investigative interest in [the] political violence of such groups as Ruth Sent Us or Jane’s Revenge, the FBI has demonstrated no interest in pursuing any investigate activity that targets any persons who are proponents for abortions,” Jankowski said.
It’s not for lack of jurisdiction. Protesting outside the home of a judge or justice in an attempt to influence a ruling is a violation of federal law.
Cully Stimson, deputy director of the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, said it was “past time for this Justice Department to arrest and prosecute the protesters who have clearly and brazenly violated” the law “by picketing and parading in front of Supreme Court justices’ homes for weeks on end.”
“By not enforcing the law, the attorney general [Merrick Garland] is giving a green light to these protesters and others that it is OK to interfere and obstruct the administration of justice and harass Supreme Court justices and their families at their homes,” Stimson said, adding that “Garland should be ashamed of himself.”
