White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday declined to denounce a plan by pro-abortion activists to protest Supreme Court justices’ homes and church services over a ruling that could overturn legalized abortion.
Ms. Psaki also described the protests that have taken place at the Supreme Court as “peaceful.”
The remarks come after the activist group “Ruth Sent Us” urged people to protest inside Catholic churches on Sunday and published a map allegedly detailing Supreme Court justices’ addresses for a demonstration next week.
Asked if the president would waive off the activists who plan to go into residential neighborhoods, Ms. Psaki dodged the issue.
“Our view here is that peaceful protest — there is a long history in the United States of that — and we certainly encourage people to keep it peaceful and not result in any level of violence,” she said.
Ms. Psaki again sidestepped the question when asked whether President Biden supported distributing maps to the homes of Supreme Court justices.
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“Our view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across the country about what they saw in that leaked document,” she said. “We obviously want people’s privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to protest. That is certainly what the president’s view would be.”
Ruth Sent Us, which is named for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, published the locations for the six Republican-appointed members of the court with locations in Maryland and Virginia.
The move comes after a draft opinion overturning Rove v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood was leaked to the media this week, sparking outcry from abortion activists. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. confirmed that the draft opinion is authentic, but stressed that it was not a final decision.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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