Bill Text: NJ SR85 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges President and United States Congress to publicly condemn disclosure of home addresses of United States Supreme Court justices and enact legislation penalizing disclosure.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-16 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee [SR85 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-SR85-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator STEVEN V. OROHO
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Durr
SYNOPSIS
Urges President and United States Congress to publicly condemn disclosure of home addresses of United States Supreme Court justices and enact legislation prohibiting and penalizing disclosure.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution urging the President and United States Congress to publicly condemn the disclosure of home addresses of United States Supreme Court justices and enact legislation prohibiting disclosure.
Whereas, The United States Supreme Court is the highest tribunal in the nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States; and
Whereas, As the final arbiter of the law, the court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, therefore, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution; and
Whereas, The justices who serve on this court should be able to uphold their duties without fear of harm to their families or themselves; and
Whereas, It is crucial that the decisions issued by the court are based on the impartial application of the law and do not result from threats and intimidation to the justices and their families; and
Whereas, In response to a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion which would overturn the right to abortion in the Roe v. Wade decision, the home addresses of the justices who joined in the draft opinion were posted online by overzealous activists who also called for protests to be held at the justices' homes; and
Whereas, The right to assemble and freedom of speech are essential to democracy; however, by erasing any distinction between traditional public forums and private residences of Supreme Court justices, public protests can quickly turn into harassment and intimidation; and
Whereas, The President of the United States has failed to publicly condemn the posting of the justices' home addresses; this lack of public condemnation from the President could be interpreted as condoning the actions of the overzealous activists to publicly target the justices at their homes in order to intimidate them into changing their stance regarding the draft opinion; and
Whereas, The citizens of this State are aware of the devastating consequences that could result from targeting a judicial public servant; and
Whereas, In 2020, in connection with her role as a federal judge, Esther Salas' son, Daniel, was brutally murdered in her family home; her husband was shot three times but survived the attack; and
Whereas, The murderer had previously compiled a dossier of personal information about Judge Salas, including her home address; and
Whereas, In response to this tragedy, Daniel's Law was unanimously passed by the Legislature and enacted in November 2020 to prohibit the disclosure of certain personal information of various public officials who provide services in the criminal and civil justice systems for this State, for the federal government, and for other governmental entities; and
Whereas, In order to prevent the United States Supreme Court justices and their families from being harassed, intimidated, or harmed in their homes, it is imperative that the President of the United States and United States Congress publicly condemn the act of publicly posting the home addresses of the Supreme Court justices, and that they take legislative action to prohibit and penalize the disclosure of this information; now, therefore
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House respectfully urges the President of the United States and the United States Congress to publicly condemn the online disclosure of home addresses of United States Supreme Court justices and enact legislation to prohibit and penalize this disclosure.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of Congress elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the President of the United States and United States Congress to publicly condemn the disclosure of home addresses of United States Supreme Court justices, and enact legislation prohibiting and penalizing the disclosure.
A draft Supreme Court opinion which would overturn the decision of Roe v. Wade was recently leaked to the public. In response, overzealous activists posted online the home addresses of the justices who joined in the draft opinion. These postings were accompanied by calls to protest at the justices' homes.
The right to assemble and freedom of speech are essential to democracy. However, erasing any distinction between traditional public forums and the private residences of Supreme Court justices can quickly turn protests into harassment and intimidation. The Justices who serve on this court should be able to uphold their duties without fear of harm to their families or themselves.
The President of the United States has failed to publicly condemn the online posting of the justices' home addresses. The President's silence on this issue could be interpreted as condoning the actions of the overzealous activists to publicly target the justices at their homes in an attempt to intimidate them into changing their stance regarding the draft opinion.
The citizens of this State are aware of the devastating consequences that could result from targeting a judicial public servant. In 2020, in connection with her role as a federal judge, Esther Salas' son, Daniel, was brutally murdered in her family home. Her husband also was seriously injured. The murderer was a person who had previously compiled a dossier of personal information about Judge Salas, including her home address. In response to this tragedy, Daniel's Law was unanimously passed by the Legislature and enacted in November 2020 to prohibit the disclosure of certain personal information of various public officials who provide services in the criminal and civil justice systems for this State, the federal government, and other governmental entities.
This resolution urges the President of the United States and the United States Congress to publicly condemn the online disclosure of the home addresses of United States Supreme Court justices, and enact legislation to prohibit and penalize this disclosure.
