Roe Ruling: Making Protest Lawful Again
On Wednesday, Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, announced criminal charges against another American related to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Joshua Colgan of Maine entered a set of open doors that afternoon and walked around the building; he exited shortly thereafter. Capitol Police officers standing near the entrance did not attempt to block or arrest Colgan or hundreds of other protesters at the time who were unaware they were committing any crime.
Nonetheless, Graves charged Colgan with four misdemeanors including “parading” in the Capitol building. Graves’ office is in the process of prosecuting at least 800 people and counting for their involvement in the four-hour disturbance that occurred 16 months ago.
After he took over the office last fall, Graves changed the official name of the investigation from “Capitol breach” to “Capitol siege.” His prosecutors routinely request—and receive—prison sentences for those who plead guilty to the “parading” charge, a petty offense never before applied on such a broad scale.
As Graves presumably cheered his success in rounding up yet another Trump supporter, his wife was leading a rally outside the Supreme Court to protest the draft ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Fatima Goss Graves, head of the far-left National Women’s Law Center based in D.C., told a group of pro-abortion demonstrators on Wedneday afternoon that “abortion care is a matter of equality, dignity, and freedom in this country and that will never change.”
The night before, Graves, who has a history of making anti-Trump, anti-Republican remarks, participated in an emergency conference call with other activist groups and warned they must “engage in ways that we may not have thought we would have had to in our lives.” In a tweet that same evening, Graves called the draft ruling a “shameful and insidious attack on those who face discrimination” and insisted she would “not let up.”
Now, none of what Graves said is illegal or even out-of-bounds. Pledges to engage in vigorous political activity—even social media posts that predict those protests could become unruly—are protected speech.
Or at least it was until Graves’ husband and the Biden regime concluded that same conduct associated with the Capitol protest on January 6 rendered one a domestic terrorist.
In a matter of hours, inflammatory rhetoric on social media, threats to stop a constitutionally protected proceeding, demands for nationwide demonstrations, and promises to take any action necessary to attain political goals came back in fashion. The rules applied to Capitol trespassers were quickly scuttled.
Americans gathered outside a federal building after the leaked ruling was published on the evening of May 2 did not result in the use of nonlethal munitions such as flashbangs, tear gas, and rubber bullets by riot gear-clad D.C. Metro police. The media did not collectively suffer a nervous breakdown over attempts to “overthrow democracy” or “undermine the Constitution” that night.
Moving forward, undoubtedly, it won’t be considered a criminal “conspiracy,” a charge faced by dozens of January 6 defendants, to make plans to travel with others to Washington and participate in any future protest. Demonstrators who interrupt court business in advance of the final decision will not be charged with a felony count of “obstruction of an official proceeding” and tossed in solitary confinement for 317 days like Jacob Chansley.
No one will be hauled off to a special prison and denied bail for over a year awaiting trial.
Vice President Kamala Harris won’t be branded an “insurrectionist” for encouraging activists “to fight for women and our country with everything we have.”
Ditto for Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). In an unhinged tirade outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, Warren riled up a small crowd by shrieking her plan to “fight back” against “extremists” on the Court. The failed Democratic presidential candidate told CNN that the Senate would undermine the pending ruling by voting to codify the tenets of Roe into federal law. Congress, Warren said, has the “final word” on abortion. “We need to organize people across this country to help us do that.”
Later that night, pro-abortion activists clashed with police in Los Angeles. Rioters smashed police vehicles and assaulted law enforcement officers, prompting a declaration of unlawful assembly.
Warren, however, won’t be blamed for “inciting a mob.” Her colleagues will not seek her removal from office. When Warren says, “fight like hell,” she’s a feminist warrior. Those same words uttered by Trump on January 6 justified his second impeachment
A sitting U.S. Senator blasting the Supreme Court majority as “Illegitimate” and “stolen” isn’t censored by Big Tech or denounced as perpetuating a “Big Lie.” Using those exact descriptions about the 2020 election, however, could land one in Twitter prison or as evidence by prosecutors to argue for real prison time.
Fencing erected outside of the Supreme Court will be viewed as an effort to quash free speech and assembly, not a safety measure needed to protect those inside from “white supremacist violent extremists.” Anyone who breaches the fencing and tries to enter the building will be commended as a patriotic hero, not condemned as a “domestic terrorist.” Local news reporters will post glowing profiles of community activists instead of dark missives alerting neighbors to the “traitors” lurking in their midst.
Instigators planning to harass justices at their homes won’t be hunted down by the FBI and subjected to pre-dawn raids with dozens of armed agents and SWAT vehicles. FBI Director Christopher Wray won’t designate “Ruth Sent Us” a threat to national security for encouraging protesters to stalk the homes and families of the six Republican-appointed justices next week. Or for harassing Catholics in church this Mother’s Day. (Samuel Alito, who authored the draft majority opinion, canceled a speaking engagement this week presumably amid security concerns.)
And this is just getting started. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Thursday that the Senate will vote next week on a bill to codify Roe. It’s safe to assume the capital will be overrun with activists on both sides of the question.
Will protesters who disrupt the Senate be charged with felony obstruction? Will scuffles with police result in long pre-trial detention and even longer prison sentences? Will calls to reverse the pending ruling or intimidate justices into reversing their opinion be deemed a “threat to democracy?”
WIll U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves apply the same charges to left-wing protesters, some of whom will heed the calls of his wife, that he has to Capitol protesters for similar conduct?
It’s safe to assume the answer to all of those questions is no.
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