By Rick Moran
Protesting in front of the private residence of a federal judge with the intent to influence their decision is a federal crime. But guidelines given to U.S. marshals assigned to guard the homes of Supreme Court Justices specifically said not to arrest protesters. Attorney General Merrick Garland previously told Congress that the marshals had a free hand when it came to making arrests.
The discrepancy was highlighted at a budget hearing on March 27 by freshman Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who pointed out that training materials for the federal marshals didn’t give them a “free hand” to arrest anyone.
The marshals were discouraged from making arrests because the “no protest” law might invite legal challenges.
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Britt grilled Garland about the training materials given to marshals who were to guard the homes of justices.
“After your appearance before the Judiciary Committee, we obtained copies of the slide deck that was used to train and prepare the Marshals for their protective details at the home of the justices,” Britt said. “Those training materials show that the Marshals likely didn’t make any arrests under Section 1507 for a pretty simple reason — they were actively discouraged from doing so. As you can see on the slide behind me, the Marshals were explicitly told to avoid, unless absolutely necessary, any criminal enforcement actions involving the protestors.”