A left-wing organization is planning to blockade the streets around the Supreme Court building in response to the court’s leaked draft opinion which revealed plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. The group advised participants to take action that “stretch[es] the bounds of constitutionally protected speech.”
#ShutdownDC, a group that describes itself as a “space where individuals and groups can come together to organize direct action,” is calling for demonstrators to block the streets around the Supreme Court on Monday, June 13.
“On June 13, one of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision days, we plan to blockade the streets around the Supreme Court to rise up for the transformative change that our communities need,” the group’s website stated.
“Following decades of organizing by the far right, conservatives now hold a majority on the Supreme Court, and a group of five justices can roll back critical rights and protections that should be settled law,” it continued. “At the same time, the filibuster has left the Senate gridlocked and unable to pass legislation to protect our rights or enact the programs our communities need.”
The group also tweeted that the upcoming demonstration is meant to “take a stand against the anti-woman anti-queer anti-safety anti-equality justices who represent a small minority of this country.”
According to the Washington Free Beacon, one of the demonstration’s organizers said the goal is to “expand the current political crisis by shutting down the Supreme Court.”
The Beacon reported that about five organizers recently led a meeting outlining the upcoming protest. Over 60 activists attended the meeting, during which participants discussed detailed “tactical” plans for blocking the Court’s underground parking garage.
Organizers directed demonstrators to block multiple locations near the Court on 2nd Street and A St. #ShutDownDC is also organizing a rally outside the Court in conjunction with the blockade.
“It’s possible we will see many different law enforcement agencies, as we’ve become used to,” an organizer said, as reported by the Beacon.
One of the slides shown to the meeting’s attendees suggested “action ideas that stretch the bounds of constitutionally protected speech.” The presentation also warned against “saying anything you wouldn’t want to see on Fox News.”
One of the organizers also reportedly bragged about recently demonstrating outside the private homes of Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito.
“We were the first to hold an action at Brett Kavanaugh’s house, and then recently we held an action at Samuel Alito’s house,” the organizer bragged.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security began preparing for violence to erupt near the Supreme Court after a number of threats to murder the justices and their clerks, burn down the Supreme Court building, and target places of worship started appearing online.
