After Justice Brett Kavanaugh fled abortion rights protesters outside a restaurant in D.C. on Wednesday, Chasten Buttigieg shared his viewpoints via Twitter on Friday, leading to Secretary Pete Buttigieg defending his husband's words on Fox News Sunday.
"Sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own dining decisions," Chasten Buttigieg wrote, alluding to Kavanaugh's recent vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that had guaranteed abortion access based on Americans' right to privacy.
Several conservatives criticized the tweet, including former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who denounced it as "wildly irresponsible" to endorse "the use of mob intimidation tactics."
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended his husband's remarks in an interview with Fox News' Mike Emanuel on Sunday.
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Buttigieg said public figures should always be protected from violence, intimidation, and harassment but not from criticism or people exercising their First Amendment rights. He also discussed his own experience with protesters.
"Protesting peacefully outside in a public space -- sure. Look, I can't even tell you the number of spaces, venues, and scenarios where I've been protested," Buttigieg said.
In Kavanaugh's case, Buttigieg said the justice didn't even see the protesters.
"Remember, the justice never even came into contact with these protesters. [He] reportedly didn't see or hear them," Buttigieg said. "And these protesters are upset because a right, an important right that the majority of Americans support, was taken away, not only the right to choose, by the way, but this justice was part of the process of stripping away the right to privacy.
As long as I've been alive, settled case law in the United States has been that the Constitution protected the right to privacy," he said. "And that has now been thrown out the window by justices, including Justice Kavanaugh, who, as I recall, swore up and down in front of God and everyone, including the United States Congress, that they were going to leave settled case law alone."
Buttigieg is known for his appearances on Fox News where he often confronts his and the administration's critics.
While people gathered outside Kavanaugh's Maryland home on Wednesday evening, @ShutDownDC tweeted it had received a tip that Kavanaugh had "snuck out for a swanky D.C. dinner."
An hour later, ShutDownDC tweeted that the justice had left the restaurant with his security detail.
The justice left Morton's through the back door without eating dessert as protesters gathered outside, Politico reports.
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