McConnell calls on DOJ to investigate protesters for intimidating judges after SCOTUS opinion leak

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First on Fox: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday called on the Justice Department to investigate protesters who have been intimidating U.S. Supreme Court Justices after a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade was published.

“The past week has witnessed the spectacle of coordinated intimidation against Supreme Court Justices,” McConnell wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. “Following the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, agitators have descended on the homes of Supreme Court Justices in an overt attempt to change course of that pending litigation.”

McConnell said the protests violated federal law, namely Section 1507 of the Criminal Conduct Code, which makes it a crime to “picket or parade … with the intent of influencing a judge … in the discharge of his duty … in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge.”

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In the days following the publication of the Supreme Court opinion draft, protests have broken out across the country, in front of the Capitol, and even at the homes of justices.

McConnell likened protesters descending on the homes of the Chief Justice and Justices Alito and Kavanaugh as “mobs,” saying that their actions “meet the elements of that crime on their face.”

“The Department of Justice should investigate and charge violations of Section 1507 as appropriate,” McConnell said. “There is one solution to the rule of the mob and that is the rule of the law.”

McConnell blasted the White House for not taking the demonstrations more seriously and urged the attorney general to give them the same attention with which he had “admirably given to other recent episodes of intimidation” like the January 6th riots.

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“Where the mob descends on the U.S. Capitol or Chevy Chase, it’s up to responsible law enforcement to stop it,” McConnell said. “I expect you are up to that task.”