Democrats and, particularly, progressive activists have pledged ongoing protests targeting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) over his plan to shepherd a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the Senate confirmation process ahead of the November presidential election.
Ginsburg passed away Friday at age 87 from complications of pancreatic cancer.
Both McConnell and President Donald Trump noted, early Saturday, that the White House will likely announce Ginsburg’s potential replacement this week, angering Democrats who prefer to wait for the outcome of the November election to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat.
Before either party had weighed in on the political consequences of Ginsburg’s death, protesters had amassed outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., for a part-vigil, part-demonstration against filling Ginsburg’s seat with a Republican appointee. After a number of speeches and an impromptu memorial, protesters called up the location of Mitch McConnell’s D.C. home and marched over.
McConnell, to their great disappointment, was not home at the time.
“His house is entirely dark,” Charlotte Clymer of the Truman Project tweeted. “Significant police presence out front. It’s clear that he’s not here, as confirmed by a neighbor who is not fond of him. People are going home.”
His house is entirely dark. Significant police presence out front. It’s clear that he’s not here, as confirmed by a neighbor who is not fond of him. People are going home.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) September 19, 2020
That was hardly the end of the effort. By midnight Saturday morning, progressive activists had identified and located Mitch McConnell’s home in Louisville, Kentucky. At least one group is plotting a demonstration and potential “occupation” of McConnell’s neighborhood to begin Saturday, according to reports.
“A group of more than 100 protesters gathered outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home Saturday in response to an announcement that the Kentucky legislator will push to quickly fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg,” the Louisville Courier-Journal noted Saturday. “Protesters lined the streets the next day in front of the senator’s home in the Belknap neighborhood shortly after noon, chanting ‘Hey hey, ho ho, Mitch McConnell has got to go’ and ‘vote him out’ as several passing drivers honked and waved support.”
The Women’s March, which has gone largely silent since changing leadership in light of allegations that several of the organizations “founders” were openly anti-Semitic, weighed in Saturday morning announcing its own “vigil” at the Supreme Court building Saturday evening, to be followed by “satellite” vigils at courthouses across the country.
Oddly enough, Tamika Mallory, once of the ousted Women’s March leaders, was among those progressives seeking information on McConnell’s whereabouts.
Several enterprising leftists coined a hashtag for the protest, “#GetMitchorDieTrying.” As The Daily Wire reported Friday evening, a handful of prominent progressives and media figures, including CNN’s Reza Aslan, also threatened to “riot” if McConnell did not drop his efforts to replace Ginsburg.
McConnell is unlikely to budge on the issue. In a statement, McConnell affirmed his intention to nominate and shepherd through a Ginsburg replacement.
“Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” he said. “Once again, we will keep our promise.”
Related: McConnell Honors Ginsburg’s Life, Vows To Hold Vote On Trump Supreme Court Nominee