U.S. Supreme Court Marshal Gail A. Curley wrote letters to Maryland officials, including Governor. Larry Hogan (Republican-MD), urged them to enforce laws that prohibit picketing from outside the homes of Supreme Court Justices living in the state. Shannon Bream, Fox News host, tweeted copies of the letters.
Fox News obtained the Friday letter from the marshal to Hogan. It cites both state and county laws which make pickingeting outside the justices’ houses illegal. First, she refers to Maryland Criminal Code Law SS 3904 (c), which says that “[a] person cannot intentionally assemble with other in a way that disrupts a person’s right to tranquility inside the person’s home.” Marshal Curley also noted that “[t]he statute allows for either a 90-day sentence or a $100 fine, or both.”
Curley also mentioned a Montgomery County law that states “[a] person, or group of people must not picket infront of or adjacent to any privately owned residence.” Curley also noted that “[p]icketing” means “to place a person or persons at an area to transmit a message.” Curley also stated that protestors may pass by any residence while marching but are prohibited from stopping at any private residence.
Conservative justices were subject to protests outside their homes following the shocking Supreme Court leakage of a Dobbs-v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft ruling in May. This decision indicated that Roe v. Wade could be overruled. The court’s official decision was released on June 24. It did not overturn Roe and make abortion a matter for state legislators. On the heels of this decision, protests have been ongoing outside justices’ houses.
Curley referred to the same laws in a letter addressed to Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive.
She addressed Hogan and pointed out that Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R. Va.), in a May 11 email, stated that he was “deeply worried” about the protests at justices’ houses. She stated that threats and demonstrations have only gotten worse:
Protest activity at Justices homes has increased since then. Large groups of protestors have been occupying Justices’ homes in Maryland for weeks, chanting slogans, banging drums, and using bullhorns. For example, earlier this week 75 protestors loudly pickedeted at a Maryland Justice’s house for 20-30 minutes. They then moved on to picket at another Justice’s home for 30 minutes, where they grew to 100 people, before returning to the Justice’s residence to picket another 20 minutes. This is precisely the type of conduct that Maryland and Montgomery County laws forbid.
Nicholas John Roske, a suspect in an assassination plot, was taken into custody near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home on June 8. Breitbart News reported that Roske was found with a Glock-17 pistol and a tactical knife as well as zip ties and pepper spray.
Curley noted that Hogan had issued a press release the same day in which he stated, “It’s vital to our constitution system that justices be capable of carrying out their duties without fear against them and their family.”
She insisted that “Maryland and Montgomery County laws provide tools to prevent picketing at Justices’ houses, and they should not be delayed,”
Curley’s call comes as President Joe Biden continues to ignore a federal statute prohibiting “protests beyond the homes of judges,” Breitbart News reported.
Dobbs, v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization No. 19-1392 at the Supreme Court of the United States.
