Comment After the overthrow of the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade, eliminating the fundamental right to abortion, comedian Samantha Bee laid out a plan to target conservatives on the court who made up the majority opinion: “We have to raise hell — in our cities, in Washington, in every restaurant where Justice Alito for the rest of his life,” she pleaded with viewers of her late-night show, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” “Because if Republicans have made our lives hell, it’s time to return the favor.” It seems some abortion rights activists are taking a page out of that book — though the first judge to have his dinner publicly interrupted was not Samuel A. Alito Jr., but Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who left Morton’s the Steakhouse in Washington on Thursday night through a back entrance to avoid the crowd that gathered in front, according to Politico. In a city that regularly draws activists with signs from around the country, Washington restaurants — even those far from the Beltway — have long fought back with protests, some even focused on individual restaurants. But many are bracing for more such incidents as protesters were angered by the Roe decision — and enabled by the rapid organization of social media — to try to confront conservative justices in their homes and in the restaurants where they dine. Supreme Court marshal presses Md., Va. leaders. to stop the demonstrations at home “The idea that business — any business — is somehow immune to what’s going on politically in the country has always seemed ridiculous to me,” emailed Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Va., a stronghold of Democrats in Trump’s midst. Country. Four years ago, Wilkinson had her own brush with a polarizing public figure when Sarah Sanders, then President Donald Trump’s press secretary, dined with her husband and others at the Red Hen. Wilkinson politely asked Sanders to leave, a ouster that made the owner a hero among liberals and a villain among conservatives. “When it comes to terrible events that will affect millions, no one should expect a restaurant to exist in some magical bubble,” Wilkinson wrote Friday from England, where her husband leads a study abroad program. “Everyone who works or runs a restaurant knows that many Americans are scared and angry about recent events and feel compelled to stand up and shout about it in the streets,” Wilkinson continued. “If that street happens to be the sidewalk in front of your restaurant where one of the architects of the looming wave of entitlement subversion is dining, well, what can I tell you? It’s still America, and the right to assembly and the right to free speech still exist.” A scenario similar to the one at Morton’s played out in 2018 (coincidentally, during Kavanaugh’s nomination hearings), when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and his wife, Heidi, took a side exit at the elegant Fiola restaurant in downtown city to escape protesters chanting, “We believe survivors,” a reference to Christine Blasey Ford, who testified that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her. Then-Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen was attacked in 2018 at upscale Mexican restaurant MXDC Cocina Mexicana over family separations at the border. A few days earlier, a colleague at Shaw’s Espita Mezcaleria yelled at White House aide Stephen Miller, calling him a fascist. The fallout from such public displays can be harsh on restaurants. After Cruz’s story broke, Fiola’s social media accounts were attacked, her phone lines were tied up and people posted one-star reviews on her Yelp page. Owners Fabio and Maria Trabocchi said they and their employees were threatened, both for not protecting the Cruzes and for allegedly giving information to protesters in the couple’s detention. MXDC’s Yelp page was also flooded after Nielsen’s visit, with people leaving politically motivated reviews, which the online service deleted. The fallout for the Red Hen, a 26-seat restaurant, was perhaps the worst: its phone line was hacked, its Yelp page was flooded with negative reviews, its owner and staff were harassed and threatened, its reservation system was overloaded with reservations that customers had no intention. of the price. “The consequences can last for years,” Wilkinson admitted in an email. “We still feel it, just four years later. But here’s the thing: Fallout falls on both sides. Yes, we still have to put up with people sending us nasty letters and leaving bad reviews on Yelp. At the same time, we still welcome guests who tell us they have been waiting years for the opportunity to come to our restaurant and eat with us. … And in many ways, the support we received in the wake of the event four years ago is what has seen us through the more recent challenges of Covid, inflation, etc.” Morton’s had already been mocked online Friday for its response to Kavanaugh’s protesters. The steakhouse issued a statement to Politico condemning the protesters. “The Honorable Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and all of our other restaurant patrons were unreasonably harassed by unruly protesters while dining at our Morton’s restaurant,” it said. “Politics, regardless of your side or views, should not encroach on freedom in the game of the right to gather and eat dinner.” Many commentators seized on the restaurant’s claims about the restaurant’s “rights,” with some jokingly pointing out that the Constitution says nothing about diners or Morton’s, apparently mocking conservative pioneers. Some noted that the Supreme Court has upheld the right to sidewalk protests, including those by people who harass women on their way to abortion clinics. The company’s Twitter account appeared to have disabled comments Friday morning, and the Yelp page displayed an “Unusual Activity Alert.” “This business has recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their opinions on the news,” Yelp’s announcement read. “While we do not take a position one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we have temporarily disabled the publication of content on this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences and not recent events ». Representatives for the chain, whose parent company is Landry’s, did not respond to a request for comment. Landry’s CEO is billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who stars on CNBC’s “Billion Dollar Buyer” and whom Trump called a “friend.” The Supreme Court’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In DC, political affiliation is one of 21 protected characteristics for those who live, visit or work in the city. Therefore, a business, such as a restaurant, cannot refuse service to someone because of party affiliation. Supreme Court justices have long insisted they are nonpartisan, even if they are appointed and confirmed by Democratic or Republican presidents. But the public and pundits increasingly view the Supreme Court as a political branch of government. Although Red Hen is not bound by D.C. law, Wilkinson said her decision to launch Sanders was not based on partisanship. She launched Sanders over a Trump administration decision the spokeswoman defended: to separate families trying to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. “The Red Hen issue is often misconstrued as an act against an individual because he was a Republican. It was not. It was a denial by a particular person of a particular action or set of actions on her part. It’s a completely different rationale,” Wilkinson wrote.
