EXCLUSIVE: Republicans Call for Commemoration of Historic Overturn of Roe v. Wade

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Republican senators are introducing a resolution on Tuesday to celebrate the second anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, in which the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The effort to commemorate Roe’s overturning is being led by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and joined by a number of other Republican senators, including Mike Lee of Utah, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt of Alabama, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Ted Budd of North Carolina, and Steve Daines of Montana.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., will introduce companion legislation in the House.

“I will always support the sanctity of life,” Rubio told The Daily Signal on Tuesday. “This anniversary serves as a time to celebrate the great work that has been achieved by the pro-life movement and reaffirm our commitment to support families and protect the unborn.”

Under the resolution, the Senate would commemorate the two years since the ruling, celebrating “the millions of lives that will be saved as a result of the ruling in Dobbs,” committing to “protecting the unalienable right to life and guarding unborn lives against lethal violence,” as well as to “supporting families, including new and expectant mothers and their children.”

The Senate would also commit to “proclaiming the humanity of the unborn, consistent with the findings of modern science and the unswerving demands of justice.”

The Supreme Court overturned its 1973 ruling in Roe in a historic 5-4 ruling on June 24, 2022.

The high court’s dramatic ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was not a surprise to either side of the abortion debate, due to the May 2, 2022, leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft majority opinion indicating that Roe would be overturned.

That leak prompted months of protests outside the homes of some Supreme Court justices. It also prompted a California man to travel across the country in an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

Authorities arrested Nicholas John Roske, then 26, near Kavanaugh’s home in the middle of the night on June 8, 2022, after the opinion leaked in May but before it was announced. Roske had traveled from California to Maryland armed with weapons and burglary tools to try to kill the justice, according to a DOJ affidavit.

The affidavit describing Roske’s arrest notes that “an inventory search of the seized suitcase and backpack revealed a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crowbar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items.”

Conservatives have repeatedly condemned local and federal prosecutors for failing to enforce laws against intimidation of federal judges.

Roske’s assassination ambitions flared after he saw the justices’ addresses posted online, he told authorities. Shortly after the Dobbs leak, the radical pro-abortion group Ruth Sent Us posted the justices’ addresses and began urging protesters to go to the homes of the “six extremist justices, three in Virginia and three in Maryland.”

Those justices were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch, along with Kavanaugh.

“If you’d like to join or lead a peaceful protest, let us know,” Ruth Sent Us said. “Our 6-3 extremist Supreme Court routinely issues rulings that hurt women, racial minorities, LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights. We must rise up to force accountability using a diversity of tactics.”

ShutDownDC, a leftist protest group that has protested at the family homes of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and commentator Tucker Carlson, also called for protesting at the justices’ homes and even offered bounties for sightings of the justices.

Pro-abortion demonstrators protest outside the Supreme Court on June 26, 2022, two days after the court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Photo: Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Far-left protesters Our Rights DC and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights joined these groups in targeting the justices’ homes, even though 18 U.S. Code 1507 forbids picketing or parading “in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer” with the intent of intimidating or influencing that person.

The Supreme Court leaker has not been identified.

“I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody,” Alito said in remarks to George Mason University in late April 2023.

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