Security Tightens Around US Court Justices Amid Protests

US law enforcement agencies are beefing up security for Supreme Court justices after a leak suggested they may overturn legalised abortion.

The US Marshals Service said on Monday it was helping the agencies normally tasked with the judges’ protection.

A protest was held on Monday night at Justice Samuel Alito’s house in Alexandria, Virginia. Activists chanted: “Abort the court, while Rallies were held outside the homes of two other justices this weekend.

On Saturday night, a group of about 100 people marched from the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to Chief Justice John Roberts’ house nearby in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

The US Marshals Service said the decision to back up the justices’ security detail came “in response to increased security concerns stemming from the unauthorised release of the draft opinion”.

A draft opinion leaked last week suggests a majority of the Supreme Court would overturn US women’s federally protected right to abortion.

Such a move would hand the issue of abortion rights over to individual US states, many of which are planning laws to ban the procedure.

The court’s final ruling is expected in June.

The leaked document, penned by conservative Justice Alito, called the 1973 Roe v Wade decision – which legalised abortion across the US – “egregiously wrong from the start”.