Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas clutched his pearls on Friday as he considered Americans so distraught at the prospect of losing human rights in their country that some showed up at Washington-area homes to address those whose Has the power to change course.
He said that conservatives like Thomas never subjected their political opponents to such tactics.
“We’ve never done it,” said Thomas, addressing the wood-paneled room of conservatives assembled in Dallas.
“You never used to go to the Supreme Court judges’ house when things didn’t go our way. We didn’t throw temper tantrums. It’s up to us to always act appropriately and not pay tit for like , ”he said. The audience clapped.
The crowd appeared particularly receptive to Justice’s commentary on liberals; Several people asked follow-up questions.
Thomas said, “We have to do better than they do.”
He later said: “You wouldn’t see people going to other people’s homes, at dinner, attacking them in a restaurant, throwing things at them.”
Abortion rights activists are sounding the alarm because a Supreme Court draft opinion was leaked earlier this month, revealing that the court was in the historic Roe v. Wade’s decision, possibly with abortion rights held back half a century. Protests have erupted in major US cities, outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, and, yes, outside judges’ homes, with some Democrats prompting a worried reaction about the notion of citizenship, while suburban protests have been peaceful. Used to be.
In particular, citizenship is not a quality people, on the other hand, is particularly known for in the abortion debate. As advocates of abortion rights pointed out on social media this week, modern American history is replete with examples of brutal violence against doctors performing abortions and against women – often those who are already mothers – wanting to terminate a pregnancy. keep.
Dr. David Gunn became the first known abortion provider to be murdered in the United States when he was shot by an anti-abortion protester outside his Pensacola, Florida, clinic in 1993. Around the same time, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology declared an “epidemic of anti-abortion violence” nationwide.
In 1994, Gunn’s replacement doctor, Dr. John Baird Britton, was shot and killed along with a volunteer at a Pensacola clinic. In 1998, anti-abortion detonated a nail bomb outside a clinic in Alabama, killing a security guard and blinding a nurse.
Anti-abortion activists commit, intimidate, threaten and commit violence against those who believe abortion should be accessible – or anyone who accesses an abortion clinic.
According to a friend-of-the-court brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—the case that could reverse Roe—such incidents happen with frightening regularity.
“Thousands of violent incidents have occurred, including blockades, assaults, chemical attacks, arson, bombings, death threats, stalking incidents, shootings, sniper attacks and cold-blooded murders,” the brief said, calling for violence against the government. Alleged neglect. In the name of banning abortion.
Between 1977 and 2019, at least 11 murders, 26 attempted murder, 756 physical intimidation, 620 incidents of stalking, four kidnappings, 42 bombings, 189 arson, 100 bombings or attempted arson, and 662 bomb threats , according to the brief, citing data collected by the National Abortion Federation.
“The actual number is likely to be much higher,” Brief said.
One of the most famous cases in recent memory is that of Kansas physician Dr. George Tiller, a longtime reproductive rights advocate, who was shot in the head in 2009 while serving as an usher at his church. His killer knew that Tiller wore a routine. Bulletproof vest to protect yourself from attacks.
In 2015, three people were shot dead outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado: a police officer, an Iraq War veteran, and a woman with her friend at the clinic. Nine others were injured in a mass shooting by a man who called himself “a warrior for children”.
Providers and activists said the violence was getting worse before the pandemic. In 2019, at least three youths were arrested in three different states for threatening or planning mass shootings against Planned Parenthood clinics.
Despite what Thomas believes, even Supreme Court justices have not been untouched by right-wing violence. Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the court’s majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, received death threats for that opinion. In 1985, someone opened fire in his apartment. FBI agents recovered it from a chair.
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