Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch Wednesday after the conservative Supreme Court justices signaled a willingness to uphold a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to acquire hospital admitting privileges.

“They’re taking away fundamental rights,” the Democratic New York senator said during an appearance at a pro-abortion rally held outside the U.S. Supreme Court. “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind!”

Schumer added, “And you will pay the price! You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh,



You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price."@SenSchumer speaks to pro-abortion rights protesters outside of the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/STwZZSboHb — Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 4, 2020

So, what does he mean?

Federal judges, justices included, are appointed for life. They don't face elections, so he's not talking about political consequences.

They can't have their salaries reduced — it's in the Constitution. So he's not talking about financial consequences.

Unfortunately, that leaves just a few possibilities, none of them savory. He's referring either to the release of damaging personal information about the justices (blackmail-slash-extortion) or else to physical violence against them as retribution. Aside from these two possibilities, it's hard to think of anything else Schumer could be referring to.

A charitable reading says the senator, being a typical blathering politician, is just engaged in his typical empty rhetoric meaning nothing. It merely sounds like a violent threat against Gorsuch and Kavanaugh if they rule the "wrong" way. Schumer is constantly saying things he doesn't mean — so don't take this particular statement too seriously.

That said, I have been lectured constantly since at least 2016 that this sort of language, or even language far more vague than these literal threats of consequences for judicial rulings, emboldens political violence and extremism. I have been assured that extreme rhetoric has no place in our national discourse. I have been assured that it is among the greatest tragedies of the new millennium that the precious norms surrounding our discourse have been ignored and violated.

So I'm sure the same people who have spent the last three years denouncing extreme political rhetoric will no doubt condemn the Senate minority leader for leveling clear threats against two sitting associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Any minute now they will point out that it is unconscionable that a Democratic leader would even joke about Kavanaugh and Gorsuch paying “the price” should they fail to rule in a manner he deems acceptable.

Any minute now ...

Any minute now …