Outgoing Biden administration Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the White House will “continue to encourage” protesters to gather outside the homes of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his colleagues, so long as the demonstrations remain “peaceful.”
Psaki clarified that Joe Biden and the White House support the disruptive protests that have rocked the Maryland and Virginia neighborhoods of Supreme Court justices following the publication of a leaked majority opinion which would overturn the 1973 abortion case Roe v. Wade.
“The President’s long standing view has been that violence, threats, and intimidation of any kind have no place in political discourse,” Psaki began, before pivoting to an attack against conservatives.
“What I do find is interesting,” the soon-to-be MSNBC web show host said, “is that there are voices on the right who have called out this, protests, that are happening,” Psaki said, gesturing, “while remaining silent for years on protests that have happened outside of the homes of school board members,” or “even an insurrection against our capital.”
Psaki then explained that it is Biden’s official position that the protests outside the judges’ homes should continue so long as they remain peaceful.
“So I know that there’s an outrage right now, I guess, about protests that have been peaceful to date, and we certainly continue to encourage that, outside of judges homes, and that’s the president’s position,” said Psaki.
Some conservative pundits said they were surprised by the endorsement, including lawyer and YouTuber Viva Frei, who described it as “impeachment worthy.”
I had to find the full context, just to make sure nothing material was missing. https://t.co/egbcsr8iXs Not only was this not out of context, full context makes the answer worse. @PressSec overtly encouraging illegal protest in front of a SCOTUS judge’s home. Impeachment-worthy. https://t.co/pz2WXLztqz pic.twitter.com/YYEpnMv5L7
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) May 10, 2022
“I had to find the full context,” wrote Frei. “Not only was this not out of context, full context makes it worse. [Psaki] overtly encouraging illegal protest in front of a SCOTUS judge’s home.”
Protests erupted outside the homes of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Alito last weekend, and have continued into this week.
At one point it was reported that Alito and his family were removed from the premises and relocated to an undisclosed location for their own security.
Democrats have largely praised the protests, with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issuing a “call to arms” for the LGBT community to defend abortion, while Republicans have called for Virginia and Maryland governments to stop the demonstrations.
