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Morton’s says it was inundated with false reservations after it defended Brett Kavanaugh’s “right” to “eat.”
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Kavanaugh was dining at a DC location when protesters gathered outside to protest the overthrow of Roe v. Wade.
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The judiciary left out a back door, and Morton later said the demonstration was “not decent”.
A steakhouse chain is inundated with phone calls and false reservations over its defense of Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s “right” to “eat” at one of its restaurants, where protesters have gathered outside to protest his support for it. overthrow of Roe v. Wade.
Morton’s this week sent a memo to restaurant managers saying they should brace themselves for more response to his comments about the lawyer’s defense, Politico reported Saturday. Kavanaugh was one of five judges who voted last month to undo Roe, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States and provided a constitutional right to the procedure.
“We are currently experiencing a massive wave (now trending at #2 on social media) of negative response to our comments yesterday and being bombarded locally with calls and false reservations on Open Table,” Scott Crain, the SVP and COO of Morton’s, restaurant managers wrote in an email obtained by Politico.
“I’m making you aware of this because there’s a good chance your restaurants may also have people reaching out for comment and/or making (fake) reservations in the coming days,” Crain continued. “Like I said yesterday, our comment is always ‘No comment’. We don’t respond, we don’t retweet, we don’t post on Instagram or Facebook, we don’t do anything.”
“Again, we do not add our political beliefs at any point – not with an employee, not with a fellow manager, and certainly NOT with a guest,” he added in the memo.
On Wednesday night, Kavanaugh was dining at a Morton’s restaurant in Washington, DC, when protesters learned he was at the establishment. A group gathered outside the restaurant and told the manager to kick him out, and Kavanaugh left through a back door in the restaurant, Politico reported at the time.
After the incident, a Morton representative told Politico that the group’s actions were “not decent”.
Honorable Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and all of our other patrons at the restaurant were unnecessarily harassed by unruly protesters while eating at our Morton’s restaurant. Politics, regardless of your side or opinion, must not trample on the freedom of the right to assemble and eat,” said the rep.
“There is a time and place for everything. Disrupting the dinner of all our customers was an act of selfishness and lack of decency,” the representative added.
In addition to the phone calls and fake reservations, the Morton’s restaurant where Kavanaugh dined has seen a handful of 1-star Google reviews that contradict the original statement.
The venue’s Yelp page has also temporarily stopped posting customer reviews due to “heightened public attention” for the restaurant.
Morton’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the draft majority opinion quashing Roe was leaked in early May, protests erupted across the country, with abortion rights activists and Democratic politicians critical of the preliminary decision, made even more urgent by the pending “trigger laws in a series of GOP-controlled states that would effectively ban the proceeding if the Supreme Court decides to overturn the ruling.
When Roe was overthrown last month and handed decision-making over access to abortion to the states, liberal activists — some of whom had fought for abortion rights in the 1960s and 1970s — were outraged.
Republicans, who had pushed for the overthrow of Roe for decades, broadly welcomed the decision.
When the draft opinion leaked, pro-choice protesters showed up near Kavanaugh’s homes, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito; they showed up to protest at the home of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas after Roe was destroyed.
Last month, a man arrested near Kavanaugh’s home told federal investigators that he wanted to kill the lawyer because of his anger over the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the then-pending court decision on Roe.
The person, Nicholas John Roske, was charged with attempted murder. He has since pleaded not guilty.
President Joe Biden signed a law last month that provides security for families of Supreme Court justices.
Read the original article on Business Insider
