“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,” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a pro-abortion rally at the steps of the Supreme Court building on March 4, 2020. At the time, Schumer was the minority leader of the Senate; he is now the majority leader.
On Wednesday, Schumer had an opportunity to apologize for those incendiary remarks, in light of the attempted assassination of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh earlier this month, but he did not. He was asked by Manu Raju, the chief congressional correspondent for CNN, about his 2020 comments that Kavanaugh (and Gorsuch) had “released the whirlwind and you will pay the price.”
Instead of apologizing, Schumer responded, “First of all, I’m against violence in any way. I’m for peaceful protests, but I’m against violence. Number two, we in the Senate passed legislation very quickly to deal with the Supreme Court and I’m very glad the perpetrator was caught.”
He did offer an apology soon after he made his remarks in 2020, but has never explained what he meant by the two judges would not know what “hit” them. This could refer to packing the Supreme Court with more liberal judges, or could be predicting violence, but as Schumer has not elaborated, we can only speculate.
At the time, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned that Schumer’s words were dangerous, saying, “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous.”
In fact, the alleged would-be assassin was certainly prepared to make sure Kavanaugh would “pay the price.” He brought a gun, a knife, pepper spray, and burglary tools to get inside the Kavanaugh home during the nighttime hours early on June 8th. He later confessed to authorities that he intended to murder Kavanaugh due to Kavanaugh’s opposition to Roe v. Wade. He also said he was protesting — believe it or not — against gun violence.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted “Cause and effect” while showing a video of Schumer’s threats to the two justices, both of whom were nominated to the Court by President Donald Trump.
One can only imagine the response of the media had Cruz (or Senator Rand Paul or Senator Mike Lee) made similar remarks about one of the other justices, like Elena Kagan, and then someone tried to kill her. Beyond the threats to the justices of the Supreme Court, comments like those made by Senator Schumer could have encouraged some of the violent attacks against pro-life offices, organizations, and churches.
Jonathan Turley, law professor at George Washington University, agreed that Schumer’s fiery remarks could lead to violence. “While clearly unintended, some can take the wrong meaning from words like those from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the steps of the Supreme Court that expressly referred to Justice Kavanaugh.”
Despite the clear uptick in acts of violence against pro-life property in the wake of the leaked opinion indicating the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, which supposedly created a national “right” to abortion, the law enforcement agencies of the federal government have done little to stop it. The Biden administration has even refused to condemn the release of the home addresses of the justices or the illegal protests outside their homes.
There is a real fear that once the Supreme Court does issue its ruling, and if it does indeed overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue to the states (as is the proper authority under our federal system), riots and violence could erupt across the country. Not only could those Supreme Court justices joining in reversing Roe be possible victims of violent attacks, but pro-life politicians, churches, and organizations could also be the targets of violence on life and property.
In other words, there will be a “whirlwind” of violence, as Schumer warned would happen, if the justices were to dare send the abortion issue back to the states.
If that happens, it is not clear whether the Biden administration will do anything of substance to protect the victims and whether the media will hold Schumer accountable for his incendiary remarks.
