Jumaane Williams Arrested Outside Trump Tower In SCOTUS Protest

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Councilman Jumaane Williams was arrested outside Trump Tower as he protested President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court.

Williams was one of seven protesters arrested outside the president’s Fifth Avenue skyscraper Monday night, shortly after Trump named a staunch conservative, D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as his pick to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, police said.

“They would say separate but equal is equal,” Williams warned of a Supreme Court with a conservative majority. “This is the type of bull s--- we gotta deal with.”

#reclaimSCOTUS https://t.co/Aj3C8eis0W
— Jumaane Williams (@JumaaneWilliams) July 10, 2018

Williams and six protesters who marched in the National Action Network demonstration Monday night now face disorderly conduct charges, police said.

Kavanaugh, 53, is a federal appeals court judge who was a former aide to President George W. Bush and led the investigation that eventually resulted in President Bill Clinton's impeachment.

Trump lauded Kavanaugh, 53, for his conservative record and strong ties to Republican legal groups, but Democrats say they'll fight the appointment of a justice they believe could jeopardize abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act.

"We shouldn't put him on the bench,” Democratic majority leader and New York Senator Chuck Schumer said on CBS Morning News. "He's way to the right of the American people."

Before his arrest, City Councilman Williams, who is currently running to be New York’s lieutenant governor, called on fellow Democratic leaders to take a stronger position against "the buffoon in the White House."

“My message is to those Democrats who think resistance is just a hashtag,” said Williams, shortly before his arrest. “Leadership takes risk — our Democrats have taken none of those.”

This was not the first time Williams’ activism has landed him in handcuffs, the Brooklyn representative was arrested outside Trump Tower in January 2017, when Trump was inaugurated.

Header photo courtesy of Jumaane Williams/Twitter