Washington DC—When Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft majority opinion in the abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was leaked to the press, the streets outside the Supreme Court turned into a hornet’s nest of reproductive rights protests, mimicking Black Lives Matter Plaza after the Minneapolis police slaying of George Floyd in June 2020. Abortion rights activists were shocked by Alito’s draft opinion because it would explicitly overturn Roe v. Wade and end 50 years of settled law. They swarmed the Supreme Court within hours of its release.
A few days later U.S. Marshals barricaded sidewalks outside the Court to keep pop-up abortion rights protesters at bay. So some of the activists did what no one expected—they took their protests directly to all the homes of the five right-wing Justices supporting Alito’s draft majority opinion. This had never been done before.
There were only a handful of activists at first and they didn’t have a plan to counter the expected ruling. And they couldn’t do it 250 feet from the Supreme Court. They only knew their rights and bodies were on the line and they had to do something—anything—to express their outrage. So they organized a chat and connected, adding more who joined them later. The logistics for sustained protests would be daunting but they wanted to at least try to see how long they could do it. They planned the days to visit each justice’s home, arranging carpooling and rides since some of the justices lived too far out for everyone to travel from DC.
Reaching the sleepy suburban neighborhoods, its manicured laws and million dollar homes takes a lot of time, uses up gas money, and gas prices are going up fast with limited funds. But they want to make noise. They want to vent their rage. They brought bullhorns and made signs. Then they laced up their shoes. They call themselves the SCOTUS6 Action Group.
The First Day — Roberts and Kavanaugh
The Saturday afternoon after the big Woman’s March for Reproductive Rights action when over 15,000 and as many as 25,000 passed the Supreme Court, the activists pass flyers to marchers asking them to join protests at the Supreme Court Justices’ homes later that evening. They hand out stacks of flyers—all they had. But only a few showed up.
The activists met at a nearby rendezvous point before going to two Justice’s homes in Chevy Chase, Maryland that live about a half mile apart. Chevy Chase is outside DC but not as accessible as other parts of DC. They coordinated a walk through the narrow streets to Justice Brett Kavanaugh with plans to continue on to Chief Justice John Robert’s home later. The homes there are older and priced in the millions but they’re close together with small front lawns close to the street.
They chose a support activist to drive his car behind them for protection from traffic as they walk along the sidewalk. As Joseph drives he plays music as they begin to walk calling out, “No justice for us, no peace for you!” Their chanting bounces off the quiet homes and some neighbors come to their windows. Scenes like this play out in DC all the time but never here. It is odd to see a protest in a sleepy suburb but the situation has left the activists no choice.
When they arrive at Brett Kavanaugh’s home two dozen police are waiting outside for them—about one uniformed police responder for every activist. At least three police agencies are present based on the different uniforms they wear.
They chant and walk slowly past Kavanaugh’s home, remaining far from the police and in the middle of the street as they pass. There are no signs that the Kavanaugh family is even there although the drapes of one of the upstairs windows are left open with a desk lamp turned on as if to make it seem like a welcoming home but the excessive police force dashes that pretense. The fully armed police forces are intimidating enough, spaced closely together in a line on the sidewalk, with another line on the lawn and a few more by the front door. It is an overkill of force but no one knows what is going to happen as they pass. And word in the media was spread that by going there the activists were unlawful by “intimidating” Federal judges. But would they be arrested?
The First Amendment Right of the Constitution plays in their favor. As long as they keep moving they could not technically be intimidating someone they are not threatening. And as long as there’s no one there to be intimidated and they do not tresspass onto property they shouldn’t be arrested for that either.
They walk by Brett Kavanaugh’s home. They chant “Keep your rosary off my ovaries!” and “No justice for us, no peace for you!” The police don’t move their places standing like statues and there are no arrests. The activists walk past half a block and turn around to pass by again and then again, skirting the boundaries of the law that supposedly says they can’t assemble there. They pass by Kavanaugh’s home eight times. The police are irritated. And the mosquitoes are biting the police. The activists begin to chant “F— Kavanaugh!” and it is profane but the irony is the Supreme Court ruled profanity is not illegal on public airwaves in the 1970s. They walk the half mile towards Chief Justice John Roberts’ home. Many motorists cheer and blow horns in support as they pass. The activists cheer back. It gives them a boost. The walk there takes 15 minutes and the young activists move at a fast pace leaving some of the older ones behind—someone calls for them to slow down. The day is hot and in the 90s and they’re all tired from earlier march in DC. Someone says to hydrate—drink a lot of water. They press on passing under old growth shade trees with some relief from the heat.
The same annoyed police wait for them outside, having driven the half mile to beat them to Robert’s home. The activists pass by and then circle back, repeatedly passing Roberts’ home. There’s no sign he and his family are there. All the windows have drapes pulled closed. This time they walk on the sidewalk close to the property but are careful stay off the grass. The police stand motionless as they pass except to swat back the assault from mosquitoes targeting them. There are no arrests.
Many of the activists involved in the neighborhood protests have a personal story about access to abortion healthcare and how it provided them support when they needed it most. Some say it saved them from serious injury or worse and prevented serious medical outcomes that would have affected them permanently.
Key among the organizers is Sadie, who is determined to show up to every action no matter what. Sadie, who uses pronouns they/them, experienced first hand how removing or limiting reproductive healthcare as Dobbs will do, will imperil the lives of those with a uterus.
Sadie is energetic and positive and puts the other activists at ease with their gentle voice. They’re a natural fit for leadership and when they chant on the bullhorn it is with a natural tempo. They are easy to like and respond with a tender heart towards the other activists. They have a caring nature for animals and often shares photos of their cat with the others. Youthful and energetic, they seem not to have been hurt too much by the way of the world but appearnces can be deceptive and they have their story as well.
Years ago Sadie had an incomplete miscarriage which would have caused a septic pregnancy or even worse, have cost their life had it not been for access to clinical care abortion. Sadie received life-saving abortion healthcare from an urgent care clinic in DC. Now they want the same option of care preserved for others. Sadie doesn’t want to see others die needlessly.
Sadie also worries for their younger sibling who identifies as transgender. They know trans healthcare will also be affected by any overturn of Roe v. Wade. Sadie says that there is already a difficulty getting care for the trans community and the fact that the Supreme Court is already attacking choices and bodily autonomy it will make it even more difficult for the trans community.
“Our mothers and grandmothers didn’t always have these rights so they feel the threat much more than we understand it,” Sadie says. “For us its hard to imagine what it’s going to look like post Roe and it’s terrifying to think that at some point I could not have any more choices and that I could be forced into having a child.”
Sadie also worries for the other rights that may be lost as Alito’s draft opinion opens the doors to remove protections for same-sex marriage, LGBTQ rights, and inter-racial marriage. These rights have the potential to be re-examined by this Court using the logic of Alito’s draft majority opinion and it is unsettling to them.
Nadine is another strong personality unafraid to go into the heat of an action. Her energy is bottomless but underneath she is also tender hearted. Though she is much older than most of the other activists she is able to keep up with their tempo and often goes to the Supreme Court after the actions at the homes. She had a large flag made out of fabric: “Don’t Tread on My Uterus” in a play on the Libertarian motto. But instead of a snake the logo is the feminine organ. The flag is catchy and she shows it off to the other activists who love its message. Many tourists stop to photograph it.
Nadine was enraged at the Minneapolis police for smothering the life out of George Floyd in 2020 and as a result she spent a lot of time at Black Lives Matter Plaza in downtown DC. She saw a lot of police actions taken against activists in the six months at BLM Plaza so the police don’t intimidate her very much.
She often leads on the bullhorn and loud voice and her Caribbean accent booms unapologetically. She too has her story of tragedy regarding women’s healthcare. Life’s experiences were very harsh in her early years. She tells how she never had a mother because her “incubator” as she puts it, abandoned her and her siblings when they were born. Her incubator did not want children but had no access to abortion healthcare and was forced to birth children she did not want. Her upbringing was one of poverty and unspeakable abuse. The abuse she describes can not be written here. At times she did not want to live. She tells part of her experiences publicly in front of the Supreme Court after an action in early May so people there will know what some of the consequences that await a post Roe society. She doesn’t tell the details of the abuse.
During one of the actions at Justice Amy Barrett’s home in late May a disturbed neighbor follows the activists in the cul-de-sac where Barrett resides. She calls them names and tells them to “stop harassing” her neighbor, Justice Barrett. She yells at them to find something worthwhile to do with their time. The encounter quickly turns ugly as she tells the Black activists to “speak english” she can understand. The activists respond to her bigotry by circling the cul-de-sac more tightly. The activists pull up a hit song from their playlist by Lily Allen and jack it up on the speaker. They know they lyrics well and sing them as they walk past the neighbor who is actually following them around. She bacomes more enraged as she realizes the lyics “F— You very much” are for her and too much for her to take. She circles the activists ranting and cursing then runs behind the U.S. Marshalls who are bemused by the spectacle. The incident energizes the activists and they circle in front of Amy Barrett’s house for nearly a half hour until she leaves.
The African-Americans in the group are both bothered and hurt by the bigotry though they don’t express it outright. They decide to return by themselves after the other activists have left to sing a spiritual song as they walk. The contentious neighbor is by then gone but they wanted to have the last words and they wanted those words to be spiritual, not the bigoted remarks.They sing and walk slowly. Their song serves to cleanse the air of its foul mood.
A pair of right-wing media journalists employed by the Daily Signal, the mouthpiece of the conservative Heritage Foundation witness the scene but leave out of their report the ugly behavior and bigoted comments from the neighbor. The journalists don’t attempt to interview any of the activists to learn their stories. And even if they had done so it is unlikely they would report it in earnest anyway. The Daily Signal is rated mediocre for objective reporting.
But if they did objectivly interview the activists they would find the reasons the activists are going into the neighborhoods has nothing to do with changing the minds of the right-wing Justices, or trying to intimidate them, for that cannot be done anyway. The activists’ going there has to do with exposing the Democrats for not acting to investigate the right-wing Justices who were put on the Court not for their accomplishments but by dark money from groups like the Federalist Society and influence of the Heritage Foundation. They are there to expose the weaknesses of the Democratic party for not taking decisive action to codify Roe when they had control of the Senate. This is lost on the Daily Signal journalists.
Activists supporting the actions from the group Ruth Sent Us further point out the structural power dynamics at the Supreme Court are designed to disempower dissent—from the architectural design of the building which dwarfs protests to make them seem insignificant, to the barricades now moved into the streets to keep them as far back as possible.
The right-wing Justices are also historically partisan and in fact, three Justices, Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett all worked on the George W. Bush campaign in the run up to the 2000 Presidential election, an election not decided by the popular vote. Roberts’ ascension to the Court and insertion by President George W. Bush to the position of Chief Justice, a position for which he was less qualified than any other Justice then on the Court, was completed by a President unpopular with the majority in the 2000 election. Other Justices were all senior to him and typically should have been considered for the Chief Justice position.
Then there is the spate of permissive rulings on lethal military-grade guns by the conservative wing of the Court. By failing to regulating guns they are able to legally look away from the terrorization of the citizens by those guns. Ruth Sent Us activists say the Court blinds itself to the affects of terror it allows because it disempowers citizens in the same way the Taliban rules with terror over Afghanistan. By failing to rule for gun regulation they in effect delegate terror to young white men with easy access to guns to carry out the terror and control over its citizens. And by overturning Roe they distract attention from what they are doing.
Many of the activists in the group have strong leadership personalities and that would typically lead to conflict and infighting but not this group. They jell together well and they’d better get along too. The issues are weighing on them. They have few choices left available to them so creating trouble at the Justices’ homes is their tactic. The days are arduous and there seems to be little reward and it’s impossible to tell what affects they’re having.
One thing is certain and that is their social media handles are getting a lot of views. Their accounts on Twitter and Tic Toc are starting to gain more and more enumeration and that means people are watching them. The accounts are taken down a few times but they have not violated community standards and are restored quickly. It’s obvious to the activists they pose a threat to right wing parties so it emboldens them even more.
Rising To The Call For Social Justice
Howard Zinn wrote, “People should go where they are not supposed to go, say what they are not supposed to say, and stay when they are told to leave,” and that’s exactly what the abortion rights activists of SCOTUS6 Action Group are going to the homes to do. They go to Supreme Court Justices’ homes to say things that the people there don’t want to hear and they keep going back. Kavanaugh and Roberts on Wednesday, Barrett on Thursday, Thomas on Friday, Gorsuch on Saturday, and Alito on Monday.
A month later they have persisted in a relentless pace through summer heat, downpours and angry neighbors. They keep returning to the neighborhoods like a heard of elephants clamoring through sleepy villagages with their speakers cranked on blast from a wheeled-wagon. They carry their offensively “vulgar” signs and bold banners; they chant to the resistence pop-music; and they trumpet over their bullhorns. Their constant returns have stirred up “good trouble” in the neighborhoods of each of the five right-wing Justices who signed onto the Alito draft majority abortion opinion. Their persistence has irritated police and gotten many neighbors to come out to thank and support them for showing up. Some neighbors bring gift cards and food. Others wave and ask how they can donate or support the activists.
One neighbor who has had enough of the constant protests outside Amy Barrett’s home confronts the activists outside his home with a camera pointed in their faces. His underage daughter also follows him to confront the abortion activists while he records, and he curses at them, calling Sadie a “Filty Potty-Mouthed, F—ing Radical”. Sadie laughs it off and the other activists coin the term “Cully the Twatwaffle” and blast him on social media. They later make a sign in his honor reading “F—Theocracy and Cully the Twatwaffle,”hoping he’ll be there next week to see i when they return. Sadie writes his insult on a shirt she wears to mock him. She takes a selfie of it with Nadine.
Paradoxically the activists are energized by the pushback they get. They laugh it off and come up with names and slogans for the opposition neighbors. They have persisted for three weeks and will make it to a month soon and they show no signs of backing down.
June 3, Marks A Month of Home Protests
Despite heavy police guards outside the homes, protesters keep up their pressure and for a month and make it into June. They have visited one or more homes almost every day—and some homes much more often than once a day. They pass by the same home multiple times to come as close to the edge of picketing the homes without actually picketing. They’re getting more organized, their legs have strengthened, some have lost a little weight, and their shoes show wear.
The overturning of the rulings Roe v. Wade (1973), and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the benchmark rulings as proposed in Justice Alito’s draft majority opinion of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health majority opinion will vanquish 50 years of what the right wing Justices themselves admitted during their confirmation hearings, was “settled law.”
The loss of these rights that granted an individual’s right to bodily autonomy and to decide whether or not to carry pregnancy to birth, is all but etched in stone. Justice Alito’s draft opinion of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health majority opinion, which was released to the media on May 2, may see to that if it is published in its draft form.
Nikki, an experienced activist who understands movement dynamics tells of the hypocrisy of this Court to regulate vaginas while allowing guns to multiply unabated and unregulated. While the home protests have gone on one month there have been several dozen mass-shootings killing and wounding hundreds of innocent people going about their daily routines. The gun cozy Court is ignoring mass-shootings which have become the predominant health crisis across the nation, several of the activists say.
Understanding Movement Dynamics
Movement building is by its nature is contentious and disruptive, impolite and vulgar, and often results in arrests as ordinary people push against social inequalities to demonstrate their discontent. To be civil and polite, unvulgar, and not to go against law that led to societal inequality in the first place would otherwise not change anything, according to Nadine. The question becomes—how much force is necessary to effect changes for social justice.
Frederick Douglas answered that question in 1857.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.”
Nikki is another leader among the group and has a strong voice with experience from past political activities she quit after years’ of involvement and becoming frustrated. The political two-party system was designed to frustrate and not accede to change. She left and now helps run a group that took interest in the reproductive healthcare fight and wanted to go to the homes because it was a natural fit for her. Keeping up seems to wear her down physically but she pulls more energy from reserves and keeps going with the younger activists.
Nikki laments—the big out-of-town organizers like the Woman’s March and NARAL suck energy out of the reproductive rights movement by not posing a significant challenge to the Democratic power structure which has failed to codify Roe and is directly responsible for the coming overturn of Roe v. Wade. And because of this lack of follow-through the march was barely a blip in the media. “People come out to march for a couple of hours and these organizations do no follow through,” she said. “Not these milk-toast namby pamby one-off occasional things. Where is the “Okay, you hundred people from Colorado came out. Here’s each other’s contact information. Go do some shit and here are some ideas; here’s the other states and what they are doing. Here’s what we are doing and how to plug in.”
She is infuriated by the lack follow through and it is as if The Woman’s March and NARAL are where the woman’s movement goes to die. “And then people feel even more helpless because the organizations that are supposed to be doing shit, aren’t so why even bother. The only thing I’ve gotten from them is one fundraiser email.”
After an action at Amy Barrett’s home one day in May, the activists agree to meet afterwards at a sports bar to share tater-tots and beer. It’s a party to celebrate their friendships as much as anything; they blow off steam as they unwind from the stress of organizing, police, keeping up with hundreds of chat messages, planning, and the unruly neighbors in Barrett’s suburb.
Nikki deep dives into the power dynamics of movements and gives a take on why the Left struggles for social justice and it is an issue that many often miss. She has a whole thought thing on how there are two different kinds of “liberalism” and they are often at odds with one another in each person and this makes organizing difficult in activist circles.
As she talks her energy rises and her clear voice is easy to hear above all the other discussions in the sports bar. Her voice carries and has clout. She shares wisdom with the newer activists. They learn from her.
Guns v. Uteruses and Vaginas
Michelle joined the activists with experience from the healthcare industry. She had little experience in actions on the street but she fits in like smooth piece of the puzzle. She is artistic with signs and designs the sign for “Cully the twatwaffle.” Everyone gets a kick out of her antics. Shes is not as vocal as the others.
The Court is clearly not pro-life she says. “They would do something to help curtail gun violence in this country if they were,” she says. “Thomas dissented on a ruling which allowed for gun restrictions for those with a history of domestic violence, arguing a single conviction shouldn’t be enough. If Thomas had his way, he would allow open carry without license/permit of any firearm anywhere in the US.
She says that in the eyes of SCOTUS, an individual’s Second Amendment right supersedes the rights of women to bodily autonomy, the rights of our children to attend school safely, and the rights of all our nation’s citizens to live their lives free from the threat of these mass shootings.
She is angry and depressed about the mass shootings as everyone else in the SCOTUS6 Action Group is. They support themselves by talking to each other about the grieving nation and the overwhelming nature of the terror society is feeling.
Nikki repeats often “if it doesn’t bother someone then they are the problem.” It is apparent that guns are not a problem the Supreme Court is concerned enough to fix, she says. There is another mass-shooting in Philadelphia on June 5; a day after two others in other states. It has been just over a week since 19 children and two teachers were killed in a classroom in Uvalde, Texas. There were a record of 59 mass shootings in May 2022 across the U.S., according to a published report. Hundreds were killed and wounded, many families are forever being destroyed by gun violence across the U.S.
Several of the activists talk among themselves about how hypocritical the Court is by rulings to revoke reproductive rights while allowing gun laws to terrorize the nation. Its as if the Taliban were here wrecking terror but the Court and Elected can’t act in the role of the Taliban directly so they allow 18 year old white men to terrorize for them. It results in disempowerment and deflates the will to resist. They must overcome and keep going.
The Women, The Men, They, and Them
There are many men supporting the women leading the marchs to the homes. They are almost never on the bullhorn. But they show up to the actions with a supporting attitude. They join the chants with the others even when the chanting refers to feminine roles.
Joe Little is one of them. He often helps shuttle the activists to the direct actions and acts like a marshal to help them stay together so no one gets lost. He believes that even though men don’t experience reproductive healthcare issues personally, the issue extends equally to them from a societal standpoint because men have a stake in the outcome of a child bearing partner.
As a DC native and healthcare professional, he understands that revoking Roe would do incalculable harm to men in DC as well as their partners. He tells how he has been upset since the night Alito’s draft majority opinion was released on May 2.. He can’t get his mind around this Court’s vendetta against choice when there is choice in so many other aspects of American life.
“As an African American I am also aware of the rates of maternal mortality in African American Women. As a Black cisgender man I feel it’s important to stand for them as they stood for us,” he said.
As a Candidate for At Large City Council, he also understands that DC does not have a voice in the Federal system of government because it does not have elected Representatives or Senators. This needs to change he believes.
“DC is unable to write their own story when it comes to representation and Roe v. Wade. That is a disservice to the Women who reside in Washington DC, in Puerto Rico and in all Territories who lack representation in our government. We had no say in our representatives and they shouldn’t have a say in our affairs,” he said
Rusty is a late comer to the home demonstrations but loves the camaraderie and cooperative attitude of SCOTUS6 Action Group. He comes after work to support where he can. He is quickly admired by the others and takes a quiet role. With his size and stature the aggressiveness from unruly neighbors is somewhat neutralized and stay away. Rusty believes the nation is going backwards by decades. “All the conservative Justices are activists who lied under oath about settled law and Roe,” he said.
On a late Sunday afternoon Nadine protests outside the Supreme Court by herself. While she dances to music a man speeds by on a scooter wearing a MAGA hat. They exchange words. Gender has nothing to do with the rights of the oppressed and it is just a distraction from the issues she says. She chalks slogans on the street. Among them is “Equal justice under law, my ass.”
On the Western Pediment of the white marble facade the words “Equal Justice Under Law” are etched in block letters under its apex. Nadine tells me to look at the figure at the top. “See? Its a woman,” she says. It is actually the mythological figure ‘Liberty’ enthroned in the image of a woman’s body. To her right and left are the figures Order and Authority, which face her.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned and it is almost certain it will be, American women will no longer have the liberty of bodily autonomy and the words ‘equal justice under law’ will be relegated to slogan staus. We’ve seen such slogans before.
