Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her comrades in the lower chamber failed to pass a bill that would have provided more security for Supreme Court justices and their families after authorities apprehended an armed man who intended to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh. That proposal is again up for consideration this week. Will Democrats continue to stall, or will they pass the measure?
After warnings of increased political violence as a result of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion on an important abortion case that was leaked in May, at least one individual sought to commit mayhem against a member of the Court. On the same day, leftist protesters from a group called Ruth Sent Us urged followers to participate in a demonstration outside of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home in Virginia.
“If you’re in the DC metro area, join us. Our protests at Barrett’s home moved the needle to this coverage,” the activists posted on Twitter. The tweet characterized the suburb where the demonstration was set to take place as a “People of Praise stronghold,” a reference to a Catholic group to which Barrett belongs. The activists also named the school that her children attend and noted that she “attends church DAILY.”
The protection proposal passed in the Senate by a unanimous vote last month. However, Democrats in the House have been dragging their feet, throwing out a series of excuses. It is not yet clear if they will seek to amend the bill to provide protection for clerks and other members of the Court’s staff, or if they are simply looking for more methods to slow-walk the process.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) engaged in a tete-a-tete with Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on the floor of the lower chamber, asking why Democrats refused to put the bill to a vote. “I think it’s a very relevant question,” Hoyer replied. “Hopefully can move that as early as possible. I want to tell the gentleman the reason he thought that it might be moving this morning was because last night I thought I had after discussions with Sen. Cornyn, a way forward both the Senate and the House could agree on. Unfortunately, this morning that appeared not to be the case.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also has had heated conversations with Hoyer over the matter. A GOP source referred to a phone conversation that took place between the two on June 9 as a “screaming match” after Hoyer said Democrats would not hold a vote on the bill.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) celebrated the stalemate on the bill in a recent Instagram post showing her rushing to the floor to object to unanimous consent to pass the bill. She explained that June 9 was a “fly-out day,” which means members of Congress leave DC headed for their districts. “Fly-out days are also days of maximum hijinks from party leadership, both Democratic and Republican Party leadership,” she said.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)
She continued: “I wake up this morning, and I start to hear murmurs that there is going to be an attempt to pass the Supreme Court Supplemental Protection Bill the day after gun safety legislation for schools and kids and people is stalled.” The lawmaker added: “Oh, so we can pass protections for us and here easily, right? But we can’t pass protections for everyday people? I think not.”
Of course, AOC’s comments are quite interesting, considering she does not support hardening schools in a way that would give students the same level of protection she and her colleagues enjoy, but that’s beside the point.
It is worth noting that Pelosi might not be so keen on continuing to stall the process much longer. Refusing to pass a simple bill that would grant additional security to the spouses and children of Supreme Court justices, one of whom just experienced a threat to his life, does not seem to be a politically savvy decision. It’s a bad look no matter how you slice it.
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