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The peaceful protests outside the DC-area homes of Supreme Court justices have really upset a lot of people on the right, because what sorts of monsters would protest outside someone’s home, where they live? At least, as long as the protest wasn’t over COVID policies. Then it’s OK to terrify public officials’ kids not only by marching outside their homes, but by flashing strobe lights at the windows and pounding on the door.
Among those upset by the protests are Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), who went on Newsmax to call for arrests of all the protesters, and who claimed it’s illegal to protest outside a judge’s home, a claim House Republicans have advanced as well. (More on that in a moment.)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was even more upset by the peaceful protests, which have involved chanting, picketing, and candle-lit vigils, but which have stayed on public streets and sidewalks outside the justices’ homes. On Sean Hannity’s Smile-Time Lying to Old People Hour Monday, Cruz suggested the protests might even be worser than the completely peaceful protests of January 6, don’t you see:
These images are the latest manifestation of just how extreme, just how radical, the Democratic Party is getting. […] Today’s Democrat Party believes in violence, they believe in mob rule, they believe in intimidation […] These thugs have no business at the private homes of any government official, these Supreme Court justices or anyone else.
To emphasize the violent terrorism being perpetrated by the dangerous mob of crazed thugs, Fox showed video of people murderously walking in the streets and carrying signs in the most terrifying manner. Because it was raining during at least one march, several of the thugs carried open umbrellas, which might have been used as deadly weapons, and the fact that they weren’t only proves what a close brush with death the justices escaped.
Cruz contrasted the slightly damp protesters outside the justices’ homes with the good decent patriots of January 6, whom Cruz remembered not to call “terrorists” this time.
On January 6 of 2021, you had tens of thousands of people peacefully protesting, and yet the corporate media and Democrats slander them with the made-up term “insurrectionist.” […]
And yet in this instance, they are not willing to call off their goons even now, even now, as this has the potential to escalate and escalate further.
To the best of our knowledge, none of the protesters outside the SCOTUS justices’ homes chanted for them to be hanged, broke through any windows, sprayed anyone with bear repellent, beat anyone with flagpoles, looted any offices, or injured more than 114 police officers, but that’s probably because we’re so biased we’re just covering it up. MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan had no difficulty calling attention to the idiocy of the comparison, particularly given how consistently rightwing media has downplayed the actual deadly violence at the US Capitol.
Hasan also contrasted this week’s nonviolent marches on public property to the long history of murder, assault, arson, and death threats against doctors, nurses, and clinics that provide abortion.
As for the claim that protesting on public property outside a judge’s home is a federal crime, Republicans have been citing 18 U.S. Code § 1507, which reads,
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.
Yr Doktor Zoom is not an attorney, so we ran that contention past Wonkette legal analyst Liz Dye, who is. Her considered legal opinion is “that’s bullshit,” and that “You got a right to be on the public street and express your opinion.” In fact, she was quite certain that any attempt to invoke that law against protesters on public property would “never be upheld, not even by this SCOTUS.”
That said, the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake found some legal experts who thought the law might actually be valid. Blake notes that while the Supremes have “rarely dealt with this specific statute,” they have upheld some similar laws. So we suppose that if any mass arrests of protesters do happen, we’ll find out eventually. We’ll just note that astute Wonkette legal analyst Jamie Lynn Crofts agrees with Liz that the federal statute is unenforceable, and also “that Post take is dumb.”
We have to wonder: would justices whose homes were the site of protest have to recuse themselves? Haha, we amuse ourselves.
In any case, let’s please not get too hung up over the legality of protesting outside Supreme Court justices’ homes, because the Stupidest Man on the Internet, Gateway Pundit publisher Jim Hoft, recently discovered a far more frightening matter: an actual honest-to-Crom DEMON at one of the protests. We are not making this up:
That sounds pretty scary! Let’s see that “demon” better! ENHANCE!
Hoft carefully notes that the demon-strator appears around the 15-second mark in this Twitter video, and heavens, it couldn’t possibly be some sort of glitch in low-resolution video, could it? Actual real demons protesting to keep Roe v. Wade in place seems far more likely.
Ever the scrupulous chronicler of the truth, Hoft noted:
We are not saying the girls are demons. We are reporting a demon-like image appears in the screengrab. In fact, the demon looks nothing like the female protester in the video. So how do you explain this?
Well duh. Lizard people. It’s always lizard people.
The real question is whether federal law applies to literal demons from hell, or to lizard people, isn’t it?
[The Hill / Insider / WaPo / Gateway Pundit]
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