A neighbor of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito found a way to tune out angry protesters who have flocked to her block in Northern Virginia after the jurist’s draft opinion overturning Roe v Wade was released.
Amid the noise from the street, and through an open window, the strains of the Christian hymn “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” could be heard as Alito’s neighbor played a piano Monday night. The neighbor told Standing for Freedom Center Editor-in-Chief John Wesley Reid that the act brought some solace despite the rage and chaos outside.
“I wanted to do something beautiful and thoughtful to counter the noise, the chaos, the sadness of those protesting life in front of an empty house,” the neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told Reid. “There is nothing more steadfast and measured than the joy of worshipping our Savior through precious hymns.”
Alito’s neighbor plays “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” on piano with window open as pro-aborts picket #Alito home.
Quote: “I wanted to do something to counter the noise…There is nothing more steadfast than the joy of worshipping our Savior through precious hymns.” pic.twitter.com/8jUk1htSMO
— John Wesley Reid (@johnwesleyreid) May 10, 2022
Protests have taken place outside the homes of the five Supreme Court justices who signed onto Alito’s draft opinion, which would overturn the landmark 1973 decision that made the right to abortion a constitutional right. Protesters have also gathered outside the home of Chief Justice John Roberts, whose position on the opinion remains unknown.
On Monday night, about 60 protesters gathered outside Alito’s home led by activists with ShutDownDC, a leftist group that frequently protests for progressive causes.
“Abort the court! Abort the court!” protesters chanted as police from the city of Alexandria and Fairfax County looked on.
“F*** the Court and the legislature! We are not your incubator!” others chanted.
Other neighbors joined the protest, telling The Daily Wire they supported the demonstration in their own residential neighborhood.
“I am pro-choice because I really think that no one should dictate the woman’s right about her reproductive … system,” 77-year-old Aija Karlsons told The Daily Wire.
The leak of the draft and publication by Politico stunned the nation and reignited the long-running debate about abortion. The opinion would decide the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, a challenge to a Mississippi law greatly restricting the federal right to abortion granted by the Roe decision. Alito wrote that Roe and a subsequent case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld Roe, both must be overturned, and the right to allow, deny, or restrict the right to an abortion must reside with states.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the 98-page opinion states. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”