Virginia's first Black female Lt. Governor blasts Biden for failing to protect SCOTUS justices

Virginia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears blasted President Joe Biden during a Thursday interview on “Fox & Friends,” claiming the Democratic leader has failed to protect Supreme Court justices as pro-choice activists continue to demonstrate outside of their homes.

ICYMI, I was on Fox & Friends yesterday to talk about the protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices. #everforward #LG42 #Winsome #SCOTUShttps://t.co/hKOIxBTFc9

— Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) May 13, 2022

“President Biden, you need to tell your attorney general to go and do his job and protect the citizens of the United States of America,” Sears said during the interview.

“Ultimately, sir, this falls on you. This is on your watch. And it’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. And then who is going to write the script for you, Mr. President, so you can read it and say that it was somebody else’s fault?” she added.

Sears, the Commonwealth’s first Black woman lieutenant governor, also called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to enforce the law against intimidation of justices in Virginia.

“We have asked Attorney General Garland to enforce the law and to make sure that these demonstrators are not allowed to try to intimidate justices like they are trying to do,” she said.

The lieutenant governor also took to Twitter on Wednesday to urge state officials to take action against protestors.

Silence doesn't guarantee safety. The mob may come for you. The Commonwealth Attorney has the power to prosecute the individuals picketing and protesting outside the homes of SCOTUS Justices. The Commonwealth Attorney is supposed to enforce the law. #everforward #LG42 #Winsome pic.twitter.com/UkkTJmXGva

— Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) May 11, 2022

“Silence doesn’t guarantee safety. The mob may come for you. The Commonwealth Attorney has the power to prosecute the individuals picketing and protesting outside the homes of SCOTUS Justices. The Commonwealth Attorney is supposed to enforce the law,” she wrote.

Following the unprecedented leak of Justice Alito’s draft abortion rights decision which appears to indicate the court will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, multiple protests have broken out across the country – including outside of the homes of sitting justices.

Politico first obtained a draft of conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a controversial Mississippi case which could effectively overturn Roe v. Wade and almost 50 years of legal precedent guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion.

According to the document, Justices Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and possibly Chief Justice John Roberts support Justice Alito’s decision.

Should the court vote to overturn the current precedents, abortions would be left for the states to decide. 

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Justice Alito wrote in the opinion. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives."

Alito also noted that 30 states had active bans on abortion throughout pregnancy at the time Roe was decided and Americans still hold “sharply conflicting views” on the subject.

"Some believe fervently that a human person comes into being at conception and that abortion ends an innocent life. Others feel just as strongly that any regulation of abortion invades a woman's right to control her own body and prevents women from achieving full equality. Still others in a third group think that abortion should be allowed under some but not all circumstances, and those within this group hold a variety of views about the particular restrictions that should be imposed," Alito wrote.