We reported back in March on how Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) blew the lid off of Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland’s purposeful deception on the issue of protecting conservative Supreme Court Justices in the aftermath of the leaked Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft opinion in May 2022.
As RedState readers will recall, conservative Justices including Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh were relentlessly stalked and harrassed in their communities and at their homes by radical pro-abortion activists who, incredibly, were being encouraged at the time by the Biden administration despite the fact that what they were doing – trying to intimidate members of the court into changing their opinion – was clearly against U.S. Code, which reads as follows:
[U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1507] 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.
Nothing in this section shall interfere with or prevent the exercise by any court of the United States of its power to punish for contempt.
During that March exchange with Garland, Britt revealed training materials that included directions to “Avoid, unless absolutely necessary, criminal enforcement action involving the protest or protestors, particularly on public space.” In short, Garland’s DOJ did not want any of the so-called “protesters” arrested.
When confronted, Garland denied being aware of the training materials she had in hand and told Britt he would not “amend” his earlier statements from a March 1 Judiciary Committee hearing where he proclaimed that U.S. Marshals “have full authority to arrest people under any federal statute, including that federal statute.”
Fast forward to Wednesday, and after more hearings were conducted with other high-ranking members of the Dept. of Justice and more information has surfaced, Britt is back. This time around, she not only has more questions for Garland but she also indicated that further documentation she has received confirms that Garland’s DOJ pressured U.S. Marshals to stand down against taking any aggressive actions towards the “protesters.”
In a letter signed by Britt and fellow Republican Senators Tom Cotton (Ark.), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Mike Lee (Utah), it was noted that despite Garland’s remarks suggesting the marshals had “full authority” to conduct arrests, post orders indicated otherwise:
In addition to the training materials discussed by Senator Britt during your March 28th appearance before the Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee, we have now also reviewed several different versions of post orders that were provided to USMS deputies assigned to the protective details at the homes of the Justices.
Post orders dated May 19, 2022, state that “[a]lthough there may be state and federal laws concerning protest activity around residences the USMS is not in a position to enforce those laws.” Post orders dated June 4, 2022, state that USMS deputies should not engage protestors “unless they attempt to enter private property.”
The June 4th post orders also include a section that mimics much of the language of the training materials unveiled by Senator Britt at the March 28th Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee hearing. The post orders inform USMS personnel that they “should not engage in protest-related enforcement actions beyond that which are strictly and immediately necessary and tailored to ensure the physical safety of the Justices and their families” and that enforcement actions should not focus on “protest activities on public space.” The June 4th post orders also instruct USMS personnel that “[a]ny contemplated USMS enforcement action should be coordinated in advance” with the appropriate U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As a result, Britt and the other Senators are demanding Garland submit documents and answers in writing by May 24th to determine who wrote the training materials and post orders, and if Garland agrees that they “undermine” both U.S. Code and statements he made under oath on March 1 to the Judiciary Committee.
In comments posted on Twitter, Britt wrote that “The training materials and post orders plainly contradict the Attorney General’s and Deputy Attorney General’s recent sworn testimony before Congress,” and later noted that “We’ll continue to push for answers — the DOJ’s dishonesty and impropriety on this matter is unacceptable and can’t go unchecked.”
In light of this new information and the knowledge that Democrat Senators including several on the Judiciary Committee have openly threatened to try and yank security funding from the Supreme Court’s budget simply because Justice Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts refuse to play their political games on so-called “ethics reform,” it’s good that Britt, Cotton, Cruz, and Lee aren’t letting Garland off the hook on this.
The American people do indeed deserve answers on why the Garland DOJ and Democrat Senators, who have been lecturing us for years now about respecting our “sacred institutions,” have repeatedly turned the other cheek when it comes to the Supreme Court. We all know the answer to that, of course, but what Britt and all the rest are doing is keeping the spotlight shining on their duplicity and hypocrisy, something Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats ultimately will have to answer for come election time in 2024.
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