Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Supreme Court justices on Tuesday of being “right-wing extremists.”
“It appears there is no bottom to the unethical conduct of the right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court,” said the New York Democrat, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Signal.
It’s not clear what conduct Jeffries was referring to—perhaps last week’s ProPublica report accusing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of violating Supreme Court ethics related to speaking engagements with a Koch philanthropy group.
But Jeffries’ tweet was met with criticism from those who accuse high-profile Democrats of stirring up resentment against the justices.
Since the May 2022 leak of the draft opinion indicating the Roe v. Wade abortion decision would be overturned, protesters have been illegally demonstrating outside the homes of the conservative justices. “Cut his time short. A rapist should not rule the court,” chanted protesters in January as they marched outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home. “No privacy for us; no peace for you!”
“Even after their hate speech incited assassination attempts on Supreme Court justices, Democrat leaders [Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.] and Jeffries won’t stop their dangerous attacks,” the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway tweeted in response on Tuesday.
Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino tweeted a video highlighting the assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. That video attributes such threats to the justices’ lives to the “dangerous political brinkmanship” of lawmakers such as Schumer.
Schumer promised in March 2020: “I want to tell you, [Justice Neil] Gorsuch, and I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Schumer’s remarks were in reference to the Supreme Court case June Medical Services v. Russo, an abortion case the court ultimately decided in favor of abortion advocates. But Schumer’s threats prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare rebuke, calling Schumer’s comments both “inappropriate” and “dangerous.”
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