Republican Senators have revealed that the Department of Justice told the U.S. Marshal Service not to arrest protesters illegally demonstrating at the homes of the Supreme Court justices. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., reported findings from whistleblower source during a hearing in the Senate on Tuesday. According to Britt her source is a “whistleblower in DOJ who was concerned about the attorney general’s misleading testimony before the Judiciary Committee.” The source provided Britt with training slides that were used to “prepare U.S. Marshals personnel for their protective details outside of justices’ homes.”
Through the training material, Britt says the DOJ discouraged marshals from enforcing the law against protesters outside of Supreme Court justices homes. They told marshals that it would be “counterproductive” for them to make arrests as the DOJ “will not charge and prosecute.”
After the Senate hearing, Britt stated, “Not a single person has been prosecuted for illegally harassing Supreme Court justices outside of their homes. The reason is crystal clear: The Department of Justice has willfully chosen not to enforce federal law.”
According to Life News:
The slides stand in contradiction to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s previous assertion to lawmakers that the decision to arrest the protesters lies with the U.S. Marshals. Garland also admitted that it is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1507 to protest outside a judge’s home with the intent of influencing that judge.
“Decisions have to be made on the ground about what is the best way to protect those lives,” he said on March 1.
The slides also coincide with The Daily Signal’s previous conversations with U.S. Marshals outside the homes of the justices. In January, The Daily Signal spoke with several U.S. Marshals who said that the activists are not breaking the law since they were not on the justices’ property, merely the sidewalk.
The authorities also repeatedly mentioned the First Amendment and free speech and said that the activists had the right to demonstrate as long as they were within the law.
Both Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had requested that Merrick Garland enforce 18 US Code 1507 in to protect Supreme Court justices who live in their states.
