Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin requested an expanded security perimeter around the Fairfax County residences of three Supreme Court justices amid concern over pro-choice protests outside the homes.
In a letter to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the Republican governor asked them to order that the local police build an “expanded security perimeter.”
“I am writing to respectfully request that the Fairfax County Police Department establish an expanded security perimeter around the homes of the three current Supreme Court Justices who reside in Fairfax County,” Mr. Youngkin wrote in the letter.
He also said there were credible threats to the justices and their families, stressing that increased security was needed to protect neighbors as well.
We have been coordinating with @FairfaxCountyPD, @VSPPIO, and federal authorities to ensure that there isn’t violence. Virginia State Police were closely monitoring, fully coordinated with Fairfax County and near the protests. https://t.co/SZMhbuzKFN
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) May 10, 2022
The call for more police presence comes as pro-choice groups are organizing protests outside the conservative justices’ homes following news the high court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that gave women a national right to an abortion.
Over the weekend, protesters showed up outside the homes of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, has refused to condemn the leak and has expressed support for First Amendment rights.
“Our view here is that peaceful protests — there’s a long history in the United States in the country of that. And we’ve certainly encouraged people to keep it peaceful and not resort to any level of violence,” she said last week.
Court watchers were aghast last week when news broke that a draft opinion indicates the high court would overrule the 1973 Roe decision.
It is the first time a full draft opinion has been leaked in the Supreme Court’s 233-year history, according to former law clerks.
In the 98-page draft opinion obtained by Politico, Justice Alito said abortion should return to the state legislatures.
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion,” he wrote. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“It’s time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” reads the opinion, dated from February.
An official ruling in the case is expected by the end of June.
Justice Roberts said the draft opinion was authentic but noted it did not represent a final ruling. He has called for an investigation to uncover who leaked the document to the press.
The court is weighing a Mississippi ban on abortion at 15 weeks in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Mississippi officials argue that Roe should be overturned because it’s outdated. The state contends the viability standard set out in Roe is unclear, and Mississippi has an interest in banning abortions after 15 weeks to protect women’s health and that of unborn children.
The legal battle was brought by Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic, and a doctor who provides abortions. According to court papers, the clinic provides abortions up to 16 weeks of gestation.
They challenged the state’s Gestational Age Act, enacted in 2018. The law bans abortions after 15 weeks unless there is a medical emergency or severe abnormality within the fetus.
The abortion providers told the court in their filing that the state’s interest in the woman’s health and children doesn’t begin until viability, occurs “months” after the 15-week marker set in the law.