Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) questioned an LGBT activist over previous tweets targeting Supreme Court Justices during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Dec. 13.
Mace asked each witness if extremist rhetoric against government officials on social media is a threat to democracy. Witnesses responded in the affirmative, including transgender activist Alejandra Caraballo, a biological male that identifies as a female who works at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic. The congresswoman then presented poster boards featuring a series of Caraballo’s tweets calling for officials to be accosted.
“The 6 justices who overturned Roe should never know peace again,” Caraballo tweeted on June 25. “It is our civic duty to accost them every time they are in public. They are pariahs. Since women don’t have their rights, these justices should never have a peaceful moment in public ever again.”
Mace said Caraballo’s tweet was sent out just a few weeks after the attempted attack of a Supreme Court justice on June 8.
Caraballo was asked by the congresswoman about the comments and if they are a threat to democracy. Caraballo responded by stating the tweets were being characterized incorrectly.
“I don’t believe that’s a correct characterization,” Caraballo said as Mace reminded Caraballo the tweets were quoted verbatim.
Mace spoke of her own experience of being physically accosted by a constituent in Washington the night of Jan. 5, adding she “carries a gun” everywhere she goes in her district back home due to safety concerns. She explained further she has had her car keyed, house spray-painted, and had a trespasser invade her house as recently as August.
Calling Out Violent Rhetoric on the Left and Right
Mace added threats that members of Congress face, on the left and the right, have to be called out no matter where they emanate from.
“It is incumbent upon every one of us to call it out, on both sides of the political spectrum, and recommit ourselves to the Constitution and the rule of law,” the Mace said, adding she looked forward to inviting more people that “actually know what they are talking about” to witness panels in the 118th congress when Republicans take back control of the House.
The congresswoman said similar rhetoric led to threats against the life of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June after the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked. A man was arrested in June outside of his Maryland home heavily armed and allegedly telling authorities he wanted to kill Kavanaugh.
The 26-year-old man flew from California to Maryland to kill the justice but possibly to “shoot for 3” in order to try and stop the overturning of Roe v. Wade, FBI documents revealed.
Mace also brought up in her remarks to Caraballo how the hammer attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband inside their California home was every congressman’s “worst nightmare.”
Mace’s sentiments were echoed by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) in October, when he called on both Democrats and Republicans to tone down their political arguments in relation to the attack on Paul Pelosi.
Comer said to CNN at the time he condemned any attack of political violence on anyone of either party.
“It’s wrong,” he said. “People in both parties are guilty of intense rhetoric that really feeds into these people who are deranged and create violence.”
From The Epoch Times
