Conservative members of the nation’s highest court continue to reap the bitter harvest of political violence that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sowed more than six years ago.
The latest in a series of serious threats to the justices’ safety reportedly occurred Wednesday evening — a reported “swatting” incident at the home of Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
“Police responded to a call for the sound of gunshots at the home of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett last night, but quickly realized it was a swatting call and cleared after meeting with her security detail,” freelance photographer Andrew Leyden first reported on X Thursday morning. Leyden included in the post what he described as “partial police audio” of the emergency call to police to respond to the justice’s home.
Fairfax County, Virginia, police said the call came in on the department’s non-emergency line.
“[Wednesday] evening at approximately 9:02 p.m., officers responded to a swatting call at the residence of U.S. Supreme Court Justice in Fairfax County,” police said in a press statement. “Officers immediately coordinated with Supreme Court Police personnel assigned to the residence and quickly determined that the report was fictitious. No additional police resources were utilized.”
‘Substantial Risk’
For those not familiar with the criminal practice of “swatting,” it involves making a false report of a critical incident in progress — like a hostage situation or an active shooter. The idea is to send police into a presumed serious emergency at a targeted location. The hope of a lot of “swatting” sickos is that their false report will trigger a deadly confrontation at the response site.
“Swatting carries a substantial risk of physical harm and misallocated emergency resources. Victims may experience trauma, wrongful detention, or injury, while emergency services are diverted from legitimate needs,” the National Association of Attorneys General notes on its website.
Incidents of swatting and doxxing — the malicious act of making widely available someone’s phone number, home address and other personal information — have soared in recent years with the assistance of AI and other technologies. They have become favorite tools of left-wing political terrorists.
Last year, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La, chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement, announced an investigation into the growing number of swatting incidents “targeting individuals based on their political affiliation.”
It’s all part of a surge in leftist-led political violence in the Trump era. Last fall, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., a member of the Judiciary Committee, asked the Department of Justice to investigate what has been described as “the assassination culture,” with a focus on “catalogu[ing] not only incidents involving deaths but also attempts to intimidate and coerce people through mobs, street violence, doxxing, SWATting, and similar tactics.”
‘You Won’t Know What Hit You’
But perhaps we should have seen the wave of threats against the Supreme Court’s majority years ago. Schumer certainly did. He predicted it. One might even say he called for it.
In March 2020, Schumer stood outside the Supreme Court building with a throng of rabid abortion backers declaring that conservative justices would “pay the price” should they dare overturn the horrible law that was the Roe v. Wade decision. The nearly 50-year-old ruling federalized the mass murder of the unborn. The New York Democrat specifically pointed his venom at Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer warned. It turned out to be a political violence prophecy.
After a draft of the Roe-ending Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision was leaked to and published by Politico in early May 2022, Schumer’s “whirlwind” was fully released.
The unprecedented leak set off a wave of leftist protests and a literal firestorm of leftist-led violence. Six days later — on Mother’s Day — a radical who was eventually arrested thanks to a half-eaten burrito firebombed the Madison, Wisconsin, headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action, a Christian pro-life, pro-family organization.
As Federalist Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway broke in her New York Times bestselling book Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution, the court’s three liberal justices abetted the violence by slow-walking the release of the Dobbs decision, apparently for political advantage. The hope, Hemingway reported, was that enough conservative justices would cave to public pressure — or worse.
They didn’t. The price-paying, as Schumer threatened, picked up.
‘Heinous Threats’
More than a month after the leak, Nicholas Roske, 26 at the time, arrived at Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with murder on his mind. In his possession were a Glock pistol, ammunition, zip ties, a tactical knife, pepper spray, a hammer, duct tape, and more accoutrements, according to the criminal complaint. Roske said he was going to “stop roe v wade from being overturned” by getting rid of a judge — or three — who was poised to vote to stop the deeply flawed 1973 ruling legalizing abortion nationwide.
“Everyone knew that the leak posed a serious security risk for justices. Since decisions do not take effect until issued officially from the bench, the death of a justice before then could alter the result. The threat of assassination increased dramatically,” Hemingway wrote.
It took 53 days to finally release the Dobbs decision. Despite the growing threat to their colleagues, the liberals on the court refused to listen to urgent pleas to complete their work, Hemingway reported.
A day after the threat to Kavanaugh and his family, a mob of protesters packed the street outside Barrett’s home. The leftists clearly were breaking federal law regarding demonstrations at the homes of Supreme Court justices. President Joe Biden’s team encouraged it. His justice-weaponizing henchman, Attorney General Merrick Garland, did nothing about the unrelenting threats.
Leftist group Ruth Sent Us and counterpart Vigil for Democracy created and distributed a Google Maps graphic called “Extremist Justices”, a doxxing campaign that sent radicals to the homes of Barrett, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts.
Earlier this year, an Alaska man pleaded guilty to sending messages to the Supreme Court threatening to kill six justices. He was charged in September 2024 after firing out more than 450 “heinous threats to murder and torture Supreme Court Justices and their families to retaliate against them for decisions he disagreed with,” according to the Department of Justice. The Alaska Beacon reported that the man was registered as a nonpartisan voter and had donated around $800 to ActBlue, the Democrats’ massive fundraising platform.
Last year, Barrett’s sister “was the target of a bomb threat” at her South Carolina residence.
“Charleston police responded on March 10 to a politically charged email threat sent regarding Amanda Coney Williams,” CNN reported at the time.
“I’ve constructed a pipe bomb which I recently placed in Amy Coney Barrett’s sister’s mailbox at her home,” the email threatened. “The device’s detonation will be triggered as soon as the mailbox is next opened. Free Palestine!” No pipe bomb was found.
‘Regarding the Incident’
Since the Dobbs decision’s release, the justices are supposed to be protected by around-the-clock security.
The Federalist asked multiple times for a comment from the Supreme Court Public Information Office. Sheridan Watson, deputy public information officer, finally responded late Friday afternoon suggesting that The Federalist “may wish to contact the Fairfax County Police Department regarding the incident.” Fairfax County Police could not be reached for comment Friday. The U.S. Marshals Service, which assists in providing security to the justices, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
What about the guy who released “the whirlwind,” threatening that conservative justices would “pay the price” for ruling against the left’s wishes? Sen. Schumer’s office did not return a request for comment.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
