Brett Kavanaugh is the latest target of protests at D.C. restaurants

By Emily Heil and Tim Carman
July 8, 2022 at 4:13 p.m. EDT

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the fundamental right to abortion, comedian Samantha Bee floated a plan for targeting the conservatives on the court who made up the majority opinion: “We have to raise hell — in our cities, in Washington, in every restaurant Justice Alito eats at for the rest of his life,” she implored viewers of her late-night show, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” “Because if Republicans have made our lives hell, it’s time to return the favor.”

It seems some abortion rights activists are taking a page out of that playbook — although the first justice to have his dinner publicly disrupted wasn’t Samuel A. Alito Jr., but Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who left Morton’s the Steakhouse in Washington on Thursday night through a back entrance to avoid the crowd gathered out front, according to Politico. ... In a city that draws sign-wielding activists from across the country on a regular basis, Washington restaurants — and even those far outside the Beltway — have long contended with protests, some even centered on individual diners. But many are bracing for more such incidents, as protesters angered by the Roe decision — and enabled by rapid-fire social media organizing — look to confront conservative justices at their homes and at the restaurants where they dine.

[Supreme Court marshal presses Md., Va. leaders to stop home protests]

“The idea that business — any business — is somehow immune to what’s happening politically in the country has always struck me as ridiculous,” emailed Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, Va., a Democratic stronghold in the middle of Trump country. Four years ago, Wilkinson had her own run-in with a polarizing public figure when Sarah Sanders, then press secretary to President Donald Trump, was dining with her husband and others at Red Hen. Wilkinson politely asked Sanders to leave, an ejection that made the owner a hero among liberals and a villain among conservatives.

“When it comes to dire events that will affect millions, nobody should expect that a restaurant exists in some magic bubble,” Wilkinson wrote Friday from England, where her husband is leading a study-abroad program. ... “Everyone who works in or runs a restaurant knows that a lot of Americans are scared and angry about recent events and are feeling compelled to stand up and shout about it in the streets,” Wilkinson continued. “If that street happens to be the sidewalk in front of your restaurant where one of the architects of the looming wave of rollback of rights is dining, well, what can I tell you? It’s still America, and the right to assemble and the right to speak still exist.”

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In D.C., political affiliation is one of 21 protected traits for those who live, visit or work in the city. As such, a business, such as a restaurant, cannot refuse service to someone based on party affiliation. Supreme Court justices have long insisted they are nonpartisan, even if they are appointed and confirmed under Democratic or Republican presidents. But the public and pundits alike increasingly view the Supreme Court as a political branch of government. ... Even though the Red Hen isn’t bound by D.C. law, Wilkinson said her decision to boot Sanders was not based on party affiliation. She booted Sanders because of a Trump administration decision that the spokeswoman defended: to separate families who try to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. ... “The Red Hen issue is often misconstrued as an act against a person because she was a Republican. It was not. It was a refusal of a specific person for a specific action or set of actions on her part. It’s quite a different rationale,” Wilkinson wrote.

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By Emily Heil
Emily Heil is a reporter covering national food news and trends. Previously, she co-authored the Reliable Source column for The Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/emilyaheil

By Tim Carman
Tim Carman is a food reporter at The Washington Post, where he has worked since 2010. Previously, he served for five years as food editor and columnist at Washington City Paper. Twitter https://twitter.com/timcarman