White House Tells Protestors To Reject Violence As Demonstrations Hound Supreme Court Justices

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that President Joe Biden will not condone any violence, as well as threats of vandalism against anti-abortion activists and institutions.

The comments come after protestors on Sunday descended on the Maryland homes of Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts after a leaked draft opinion is expected to overturn landmark abortion-rights laws.

Psaki said judges should be allowed to do their job “without concern for their personal safety."

"@POTUS strongly believes in the Constitutional right to protest," Psaki tweeted, adding: "But that should never include violence, threats, or vandalism."

Republicans and conservative groups have decried the White House for not taking stronger measures against the protests and as a protest is set for the front of Justice Samuel Alito's Washington home. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, described the protests outside the justices' homes as “mob violence.”

At a White House press conference Thursday, Psaki said the administration acknowledged the passions of the moment but discouraged any violence or violation of a justice’s privacy by posting their address online for protests.

“We obviously want people’s privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to protest. That is certainly what the president’s view would be," said Psaki.

Abortion rights have become the hot-button political issue ahead of the midterm elections after Politico on Monday reported that a leaked draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito showed that the highest court was leaning towards repealing Roe v. Wade, the 1973 law guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion.

Since Jan. 31, 2017, there have been four new Supreme Court justices, with former President Donald Trump nominating three and Biden nominating one.

Biden has called abortion a “fundamental right” and derided anti-abortion Republicans as part of a “MAGA movement” that is the “most extreme political organization that exists in American history.”

While most of the protests have been peaceful, there have been some instances of violence. Police in Madison, Wisconsin, confirmed on Monday that an office belonging to the anti-abortion nonprofit Wisconsin Family Action was set on fire after a Molotov cocktail was thrown through its window failed to go off. Outside the building, there was graffiti that read: "If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.”