Sen. Mike Lee speaks to delegates on the GOP State Conference on the Mountain America Exposition Middle in Sandy on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Adam Fondren, for the Deseret Information
Sen. Mike Lee, who has condemned protests outdoors the properties of Supreme Courtroom justices over the anticipated undoing of Roe v. Wade, encountered comparable protests outdoors his personal home as a baby.
Fox Information stories that Lee describes the occasion in his forthcoming guide, “Saving 9: The Combat In opposition to the Left’s Audacious Plan to Pack the Supreme Courtroom and Destroy American Liberty,” to be launched in June.
“One Saturday morning once I was 11, a whole busload of abortion-rights protesters confirmed up in entrance of our home and, with out warning or clarification, started picketing on the sidewalk, chanting ‘maintain your legal guidelines off our our bodies’ over and over,” Lee, R-Utah, wrote within the guide.
The protesters have been at Lee’s home in Virginia as a result of his father, former U.S. solicitor normal Rex E. Lee, wrote a short on the Supreme Courtroom with which they disagreed.
Rex Lee served as solicitor normal throughout Ronald Reagan’s first time period as president, from 1981 to 1985. He argued 59 instances earlier than the Supreme Courtroom in roles as a personal lawyer, the assistant lawyer normal in control of the Justice Division’s Civil Division and as solicitor normal. Mike Lee turned 11 in 1982.
Within the guide, Lee mentioned that he was the one particular person in his household to witness the demonstration as a result of his dad and mom weren't house and his teenage sister was nonetheless asleep.
“I used to be fascinated by the commotion, and — after a short second imagining what would possibly occur if I made a decision to show the hose on them or deploy my secret stash of fireworks to disperse the group (I shortly determined that will be an enormous mistake) — I went outdoors to speak to the protesters,” Lee wrote.
In response to Lee, the demonstrators weren't overly aggressive with him, nor have been they violent. However, he wrote, his interplay with them underscores why he believes latest protests on the properties of a number of Supreme Courtroom justices are incorrect.
“The second I matter-of-factly launched myself to the girl who gave the impression to be in cost — let’s name her Karen — she addressed me, in essentially the most demeaning tone conceivable, saying, ‘Hiya, little boy. We’re not right here to harm you, we simply disagree with a number of the issues your daddy has been doing on the Supreme Courtroom,’” Lee wrote.
“The ‘we’re not right here to harm you’ caught with me,” he continued. “And but, right here they have been on the residence of a public official, ensuring he knew that they knew the place he, his spouse, and his youngsters lived, ate, performed, and slept each night time.”
Politico first reported final week that the Supreme Courtroom has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution guaranteeing a girl’s proper to an abortion, based on an preliminary draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated contained in the courtroom.
Since then, pro-choice demonstrators have picketed outdoors the properties of a number of justices, together with Alito and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts. The protests have been peaceable.
Lee has lengthy advocated for overturning Roe v. Wade, calling the 1973 ruling morally and constitutionally incorrect.
In a speech on the Senate flooring, Lee mentioned protesting outdoors justices’ homes is an “implicit menace of violence.”
“Whenever you present up at somebody’s house, you’re sending an unmistakable message: We all know the place you sleep,” he mentioned.
Lee mentioned federal legislation prohibits such demonstrations.
Earlier this week, White Home press secretary Jen Psaki defended the protests, telling reporters, “I do know that there’s an outrage proper now, I assume, about protests which have been peaceable so far, and we definitely do proceed to encourage that, outdoors judges’ properties, and that’s the president’s place.”
Lee referred to as the White Home response gorgeous.
“That is incorrect, and I name on the president of the USA personally to undo this. He's encouraging illegal habits that's inherently harmful and is inherently threatening,” he mentioned.
Lee advised Fox Information that whereas he’s “grateful” that the protests outdoors his house that day “didn’t escalate into one thing a lot worse,” he’s involved the present demonstrations over abortion legislation might.
“By all accounts, these protesting outdoors the properties of Supreme Courtroom justices right this moment are much more offended than the individuals who confirmed as much as intimidate my household that day,” Lee mentioned.