Yesterday Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outrageously threatened Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch:

I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.  . You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.

Chief Justice Roberts in a rare rebuke stated:

Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is sponsoring a resolution to censure Senator Schumer which reads:

 “Senator Schumer has acknowledged that threatening statements can increase the dangers of violence against government officials when he stated on June 15, 2017, following the attempted murder of several elected Members of Congress, ‘We would all be wise to reflect on the importance of civility in our [N]ation’s politics’ and that ‘the level of nastiness, vitriol, and hate that has seeped into our politics must be excised.’”

The resolution has 14 co-sponsors. 

President Trump tweeted:

Schumer has brought great danger to the steps of the United States Supreme Court!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020

As far as Schumer’s response.  CNN’s John King details it here  The whole video is worth a watch but as King says “A backpedal, not an apology.  But if you just play his words it sure sounds like a threat.”

The last word goes to Senator Schumer’s counterpart in the Majority.  Leader McConnell gave an eloquent speech on the Senate floor:

A few weeks ago, I spoke on this floor about a dangerous trend that threatens our self-government. . . .

But most striking of all have been the shameless efforts to bully our nation’s independent judiciary. And yesterday, these efforts took a dangerous and disturbing turn. . . .

There is nothing to call this except a threat. And there is absolutely no question to whom it was directed.

Contrary to what the Democratic Leader has since tried to claim, he very clearly was not addressing Republican lawmakers or anybody else. He literally directed the statement to the Justices, by name. And he said, quote, “if you go forward with these awful decisions,” which could only apply to the Court itself. . . .

The Democratic Leader traveled to the workplace of two judges, and in front of a crowd of activists, he told those judges “you will pay the price” and “you won’t know what hit you.”

If any American had these words shouted at them from a sidewalk outside their office, they would hear those threats as personal. And most likely they would hear them as threatening or inciting violence. . . .

A Senate leader appearing to threaten or incite violence on the steps of the Supreme Court could literally be a matter of deadly seriousness.

So I fully anticipated our colleague would quickly withdraw his comments and apologize. That’s what even reliably liberal legal experts such as Laurence Tribe and Neal Katyal have publicly urged.

Instead, our colleague doubled down.

He tried to gaslight the entire country and stated that he was actually threatening fellow Senators. As though that would be much better. But it’s a fiction.

And then a few hours later, the Democratic Leader tripled down. Instead of taking Chief Justice Roberts’s sober and appropriate statement to heart, he lashed out yet again, and tried to imply the Chief Justice was biased for doing his job and defending the Court.

Shame on you Senator Schumer.  Thank you Leader McConnell.