Jim Jordan to Probe Response to SCOTUS Protests

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, announced on Wednesday that he is launching an investigation into the response by U.S. marshals to protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices.

Jordan wrote in a letter to U.S. Marshals Service Director Ronald L. Davis to ask about training materials that direct Marshalls not to arrest protesters.

“The training materials provided to the U.S. Marshals strongly suggest that the Biden administration is continuing to weaponize federal law enforcement agencies for partisan purposes,” Jordan wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Hill.

He went on to ask about a federal law that prohibits “pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer” if it is “with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer.”

Jordan wrote, “While authorities apprehended the man who intended to do harm to Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh, we are aware of no other arrests or charges for agitators demonstrating outside of the justices’ homes — despite the actions clearly violating federal law.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland told a Senate subcommittee in March, “The marshals have been advised — and they know — the marshals on the ground have full authority to arrest people under any federal statute including that federal statue, but they have to make the determination on the ground whether they can do that in a manner that is safe and able to protect their main mission.”