| July 08, 2022 02:36 PM

By failing to arrest and prosecute people who harass Supreme Court justices, Attorney General Merrick Garland is dangerously, almost criminally guilty of supreme dereliction of duty.

The issue arises yet again after Justice Brett Kavanaugh felt compelled to leave a Washington, D.C., steakhouse through a back door to avoid what the restaurant itself described as “unruly protesters” who “unduly harassed” not just Kavanaugh but “all of our other patrons at the restaurant.” The restaurant’s statement later cited the “right to congregate and eat dinner. There is a time and place for everything. Disturbing the dinner of all of our customers was an act of selfishness and void of decency.”

This harassment comes on the heels of a June 8 incident in which a man was arrested after approaching Kavanaugh’s home with the intent to assassinate the justice. This followed five weeks of illegal protests outside of justices’ residences after the leak of a draft decision on abortion. Despite repeated calls from conservatives and other decent people to enforce the federal law against demonstrations outside justices’ homes, and despite the attempted assassination, Garland has obstinately declined to arrest any demonstrators.

The federal statute, 18 U.S. Code §1507, makes it illegal to try to “influence” a justice, judge, or juror by demonstrating outside the person’s residence. Such demonstrations threaten judicial independence by intimidating jurists and disturbing their neighbors, but the worst part is that they create potential threats to a jurist’s family.

Supreme Court precedent has held that First Amendment speech protections are not violated by mild public-safety-motivated restrictions on where and how political protests may be conducted. Garland backs aggressive enforcement of laws restricting protests outside of abortion clinics, so he can make no First Amendment arguments against enforcing the similar law that applies outside of justices’ homes.