The NYTimes on Protests Outside Chief Justice Roberts’ Home

It hasn’t been that long since left-wing nuts were holding protests outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court Justices. At the time, the media were decidedly on board with this activity. That really didn’t change until Nicholas John Roske showed up at Justice Kavanaugh’s home with a gun. Then, suddenly, everyone seemed to agree that sending weirdos to the homes of the Justices might be a bad idea.

But today the NY Times is back with another story about protesters who are doing their best to make Chief Justice John Roberts’ time off in Maine as miserable as possible. And once again the Times seems to be of two minds about whether this is well-deserved or a bad idea.

For a long time, the chief justice’s life here was a story of potluck dinners and easy friendships, according to a summer of interviews with more than two dozen residents. Neighbors reveled in his position but kept exchanges with him about it brief or light. At a long-ago annual summer party, he used to participate in touch football, then call dinner to order by proclaiming: “Oyez, oyez, oyez, the lobsters are ready.”

But in recent years, as the Supreme Court has reshaped American life and handed more power to President Trump, a very personal form of anger has been rising here at the chief justice, transforming his getaways…

Neighbors have taken to the water to protest him. Calling themselves “kayak-tivists,” they form flotillas facing his island home, holding waterproof signs conveying their disappointment. A local newspaper columnist recommended that people in town give him the finger.

One of the people in the latter camp is Becca Shaw Glaser, who wrote an article for the local paper back in 2022 arguing that locals should do whatever they can to make Roberts uncomfortable at home.

Roberts is one of the most powerful people in the entire world. He comes to Maine to unwind and feel good about himself and his decisions, despite if he has just gutted our rights, forcing rape victims to give birth after an arbitrary time period determined by the government, gutted environmental protections, overruled basic gun regulations, decreed against the separation of church and state, and made politics much more unequal and infested with money.

Exactly why should we continue to let Roberts use Maine as his easygoing backdrop for fun and relaxation? Why should Roberts get to breathe in the beautiful Maine air when he is fine with destroying methods of keeping our air clean?…

Maine is not here as your happy place, your wind-down from all of your hard work destroying my civil liberties and democracy. No. May you never feel welcome here again…

Should you see Chief Justice John Roberts duck into Squid Ink coffee or the Port Clyde General Store this summer, consider letting him know exactly what you think of him and his illegitimate, ultra-conservative court. Yell, boo, whisper, weep audibly, give him the thumbs down or the finger, hand him a note, refuse to serve him. Some may wish to try to engage him in conversation. Post signs, write letters addressed to him in the local papers. Protest: take boats to the front of his homes on Hupper Island — he might see you — or organize protests near the general store in Port Clyde.

That’s the progressive view of life. Conservatives are enemies and should be punished, not just professionally but personally. It’s no wonder cancel culture arose from this group. They see nothing as a higher value than their politics. There are no human or neighborly bonds that transcend having a different opinion about abortion. You are either with them or you are a monster who deserves whatever he gets.

Glaser actually got fired as a columnist over that piece. Most people felt she’d gone too far but over time more people adopted her perspective. Now you have these people floating off his dock with signs.

The Resistance held another “Kayak Flotilla” protest outside of Chief Justice John Roberts’ vacation home over the weekend, pushing some motley message about shame and saving Democracy: pic.twitter.com/qWHYqVESxu

— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) September 2, 2025

They are really proud of themselves.

Badassery as only Mainers can do.. this crew of MidCoast Mainers kayaked outside of the island retreat of Chief Justice Roberts today in a flotilla with signs reading, “shame,” “protect democracy” and “you made a king.”#MEpolitics pic.twitter.com/IsNbXRWng2

— Marie Follayttar (@MarieFollayttar) July 19, 2025

This is how you get crazy people with guns showing up at someone’s home. Glaser isn’t recommending people take it that far, but she is encouraging a kind of pitchfork mob mentality that makes such things conceivable. Once you’ve abandoned common decency for public heckling and abuse at every turn, violence is only a short step away. The best the Times can manage is to give space to another viewpoint.

…others argue that disturbing the chief justice and his family at home is invasive, scary, and out of line with Maine’s tradition of maintaining respectful distance. They also worry such actions could be counterproductive, alienating the justice.

“John is a credit to the community and an asset to all of us whether you agree with him or not,” Kevin Lipson, his closest friend and chief defender here, wrote as neighbors debated the protests on Facebook. “Civility should be our guiding principle.”

This is how things used to be, before woke 1.0 and the abortion decision came along. People showed respect even if they felt differently.

…there was also an unspoken deference, a rule against initiating conversation with him about the court, numerous residents said in interviews. If a stranger asked what he did for work, his standard response was to say he was a judge, without elaborating…

Residents had strong reactions to some of his decisions, from dismantling campaign spending limits to saving President Barack Obama’s health care plan, but saw him overall as “a defender of the Constitution, a trustworthy, reasonable man,” she said.

As many have pointed out before, this is actually illegal. But of course no action is ever taken because the targets here are conservatives.

A federal statute prohibits picketing outside judges’ homes, but few people have been prosecuted. Timothy Zick, an expert on the subject at William & Mary Law School, said that a water protest facing a justice’s home was a novel question, and that he was stumped by how the rules might apply.

Not surprisingly, the subscribers writing in the comments are on the side of the protesters. Here’s the top comment with nearly 2,400 upvotes.

They can’t cast him out far enough to suit me.  With his weirdly bland expression never shifting, he has undone a hundred years of hard work to make this country livable for all.  And he has enabled a monster to finish any part of the job he’s not up to.

Like I said, if you disagree you’re a monster who deserves whatever he gets. If this were a progressive Chief Justice, the whole tone of this article would be very, very different.

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