Senator Marsha Blackburn Calls For an Increase in Maximum Prison Sentences for Those Breaking the Law in an Attempt to Intimidate Supreme Court Justices 

NBC

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Even the Washington Post admitted that protests at Supreme Court Justices’ homes “appear to be illegal” last May when abortion activists took their demonstration from in front of the Supreme Court to the homes of the conservative justices.

The protests at the homes began after the leaked draft opinion that threatened to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Violating federal statute that prohibits “picketing or parading” 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” comes with a fine or prison sentence less than a year, or both. 

After watching the Department of Justice turn a blind eye to the protestors even after a California man traveled across the country with the intention of killing Justice Kavanaugh, Senate Republicans are attempting to increase punishment for activities meant to influence the justices. 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., backed by ten other Republican senators, will introduce a bill that increases the maximum jail sentence for “anyone who attempts to illegally influence Supreme Court justices.”

The legislation would increase the maximum sentence from one to five years in prison. 

“The woke liberal mob will go to great lengths to target those they disagree with – even illegally intimidating Supreme Court Justices’ at their private residences,” Blackburn said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“The Protecting Our Supreme Court Justices Act will deter intimidation of our Justices and send a message that the Biden administration has refused to send: Justices must be allowed to do their jobs without fearing for the safety of themselves or their families,” she added.

Some of the Justices, like Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, have children living in their homes. Imagine having mobs of protestors outside while your young children are inside.

According to Fox News:

Blackburn also blasted President Biden’s administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland for declining to prosecute the protesters who targeted private residences. At the time, Garland’s Justice Department urged U.S. marshals guarding the justices’ homes to avoid arresting protesters “unless absolutely necessary.”

In March 2023, a whistleblower exposed U.S. Marshalls training documents to Sen. Katie Britt’s office that read, “Avoid, unless absolutely necessary, criminal enforcement action involving the protest or protesters, particularly in public space.”

“The ‘intent of influencing any judge’ language thus logically goes to threats and intimidation, not 1st [Amendment] protected protest activities,” according to the training materials, which noted that arrests should be made only as a “last resort to present physical harm to the Justices and/or their families.”

The whistleblower was “concerned about the attorney general’s misleading testimony before the Judiciary Committee” and offered the documents to the Republican senator’s office.

When Britt presented the leaked training protocol to Attorney General Merrick Garland during a congressional hearing, the AG denied ever having seen the documents.

“There’s nothing for me to amend because, as I said, I’ve never seen those slides before,” Garland said.

Blackburn and other supporters of the legislation hope to send a message to protestors.

“Under a future administration that is committed to enforcing federal law, increased criminal penalties will send a strong message to these far-left protesters that Supreme Court Justices must be allowed to do their jobs without fearing for the safety of themselves or their families,” Blackburn and her fellow GOP lawmakers wrote Monday.

Protesting is a fundamental right afforded to all Americans, but targeting and threatening Supreme Court Justices to influence their judicial decisions cannot be allowed.

American citizens need to have confidence that rulings are based on the Constitution and the law and not on the whims of a mob of protestors.