Judicial Watch Sues Montgomery County Police for Records about Public Disturbances Outside Homes of Supreme Court Justices after Leak of Draft Dobbs Opinion

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Maryland Public Information Act (PIA) lawsuit for records from the Montgomery County Police Department concerning unlawful protests outside the homes of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and Chief Justice Roberts (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Montgomery County Police Department (No. C-15-CV-23-001360)).

Judicial Watch filed suit in Montgomery County Circuit Court after the Montgomery County Police failed to respond to a June 16, 2022, Public Information Act (PIA) request for:

All records including email communications (including emails, complete email chains, and email attachments), memoranda, draft memoranda, reports, investigative reports, incident reports and other communications maintained by the Montgomery County Police Department and/or communicated with any of the below listed agencies, or employees of those agencies concerning protests, demonstrations, marches, pickets, or gatherings at the Montgomery County dwellings of Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

(1) The U.S. Marshals Service (domain usdoj.gov)

(2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (domain fbi.gov)

(3) The Department of Justice (domain justice.gov)

(4) Maryland State Police (domain maryland.gov)

(5) Maryland Attorney General’s Office (domain oag.state.md.gov)

On May 2, 2022, Politico published a leaked draft what would soon be U.S. Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (No. 19-1392), a decision that would later overturn the court’s pro-abortion decisions Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 (1971)) and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey (505 U.S. 833 (1992)).

Since the leak of the Dobbs draft opinion, leftists targeted conservative justices’ homes with protests in violation of federal law, which prohibits “interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice … with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer.” Several justices received death threats and, on June 8, 2022, a heavily armed man was arrested outside Justice Kavanaugh’s home in Bethesda, and was charged with attempted murder.

Because the violations of the protest law protecting justices has yet to be enforced, Attorney General Merrick Garland was accused during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of politicizing the Justice Department and prosecuting conservatives more aggressively than liberals.

“For more than a year, the Montgomery County Police Department has unlawfully stonewalled Judicial Watch’s request for records and communications with the Biden administration about the dangerous and illegal protests that were trying to intimidate Supreme Court justices at their homes,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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