Death threats are rising against Supreme Court justices, and the government is now preparing for a surge of violence over the court's upcoming decision on abortion. Federal agencies are already investigating multiple warnings of attacks.
Protesters carry images of the heads of Supreme Court Justices on sticks in pro-abortion protest, May 14, 2022, in downtown Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
America's top law enforcement agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is bracing for "violence and unrest" once the Supreme Court officially announces its decision on Roe v. Wade this summer. Many are expecting the Court's conservative majority to overturn the landmark Roe ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide back in 1973.
An abortion-rights protester holds a sign in the face of a pro-life protester outside the U.S. Supreme Court, May 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)
The DHS says threats began with the leak of Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion on overturning Roe earlier this month. Outraged pro-choice protesters have since been threatening on social media to storm the Supreme Court, burn it down, and kill the Justices and their clerks.
A pro-abortion protestor calls for the death of the Supreme Court with an "Abort SCOTUS" sign, May 14, 2022, in Chattanooga, TN (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
"The good men and women in Homeland Security have been right before and I have to assume they're right in this case...but we can't let that in any way intimidate our federal judges or the rest of us," Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana) told CBN News.
A DHS memo warns that a broad spectrum of domestic extremists are adopting the narratives surrounding abortion rights, and while violence and vandalism against pro-lifers have been a growing problem for years, now the threats are growing increasingly dangerous from those on the pro-choice side.
Pro-choice protesters attacked pro-life protesters and the U.S Capitol police with a liquid substance, outside the U.S. Capitol on Mother's Day, May 8, 2022 (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
"These are the same radical groups who want to transform fundamentally the American society, and our society was originally built as a freedom-loving, God-loving society," said intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler.
Many protests surrounding abortion rights, to date, have largely been peaceful. However, the office of a pro-life organization in Wisconsin was recently vandalized and damaged in a fire-bomb attack.
Extremism experts worry the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York also has implications on the potential violence surrounding a Roe decision.
"They're misinformed, they're listening to mainstream media, who are feeding those sorts of violence and misinformation about abortion, about all this stuff, and yes, there's a risk here people like that are going to stoke further, not just disagreements but actually foment unrest and violence," Koffler told CBN News.
The DHS says it's committed to protecting America's right to peacefully protest, and will continue to work with law enforcement partners to prevent all forms of violence.
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