Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was forced to sneak out of a Washington DC steakhouse this week when confronted with pro-choice advocates
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was forced to sneak out of a Washington DC steakhouse this week when confronted with pro-choice advocates.
Kavanaugh was having dinner at Morton’s when activists showed up and told the manager to throw him out, two weeks after he was in the majority supporting Roe v. Wade had fallen.
The judiciary was then forced to step in through the back door, Politico’s Playbook reported, as anger spread across the country over the court’s recent decisions on gun rights and abortion.
The latest attack on Kavanaugh also comes less than a month after a 22-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder for traveling from California to his home in Maryland and threatening to kill him.
In a statement to Politico, Morton’s said: “The Honorable Justice of the Supreme Court Kavanaugh and all of our other diners at the restaurant were unduly harassed by unruly protesters while having dinner at our Morton’s restaurant.
“Politics, whatever your side or your views, should not trample on the freedom that has the right to assemble and have dinner.
“There is a time and a place for everything. Disrupting the dinners of all our customers was an act of selfishness and decency.”
ShutDownDC, a protest group, tweeted Wednesday that Kavanaugh “snuck out the back with his security detail,” and criticized Morton’s for “welcoming a man who so clearly hates women.”
Protesters have turned up at judges’ homes and singled them out in the weeks since the draft opinion overthrowing Roe v. Wade was leaked.
Members of Congress have called for more security for the nine members of the Supreme Court. Law was signed last month to extend protections to their families, but fears remain for their safety.
Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, Calif., sparked the biggest security fears when he brought a gun, knife and burglary tools to Kavanaugh’s home in early June, according to police.
He has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a federal judge in a trial scheduled to begin August 23.
If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
According to an FBI affidavit, Roske had flown from California to Washington and was spotted at Kavanaugh’s home in the middle of the night on June 8, CBS reported.
Kavanaugh was having dinner at Morton’s when activists showed up and told the manager to throw him out, two weeks after he was in the majority supporting Roe v. Wade had fallen. The restaurant criticized the protesters for “harassing” him
Police officers stand outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland June 29 as protesters surrounded it amid anger over the imminent Roe v Wade decision
He carried a case armed with a Glock 17 pistol, two magazine pouches, a speedloader, a tactical knife, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, a screwdriver, a nail punch and a crowbar.
However, soon after arriving at the scene, police said he called 911 and said he was having suicidal thoughts and told the operator that he was going to kill Kavanaugh and then himself because he didn’t expect to get away with the crime.
Roske was quickly taken into custody after the call and allegedly confessed to investigators that he was upset by the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision, which indicated that Kavanaugh and his fellow conservative judges were willing to challenge Roe V. Wade and women’s federal law to overthrow abortion.
Investigators added that Roske told them he believed Kavanaugh would relax gun laws in the country after the deadly shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“Roske stated that he started thinking about how to find meaning in his life and decided to kill the Supreme Court Justice,” the affidavit reads.
Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, Calif., sparked the biggest security fears when he brought a gun, knife and burglary tools to Kavanaugh’s home in early June, according to police. He has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a federal judge and is scheduled to stand trial in August