Kayakers who say they oppose the direction the U.S. Supreme Court has taken the country took to the water Saturday morning to protest near the seasonal home of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.
The flotilla launched its kayaks from the new public landing in Port Clyde and paddled a few hundred yards to Roberts’ home on Hupper Island.
The chief justice and his wife Jane Roberts purchased the home in June 2006. He typically spends time at the seasonal home after the high court recesses for the summer. Their chief residence is in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Signs voicing opposition to the Supreme Court’s rulings were brought in the kayaks, and others lined the waterfront. Signs referred to rulings that they said harm the LBTQ+ community, the overturning of campaign spending limits for corporations in the Citizens United case in 2010, the overturning of a woman’s right to abortion in 2022, and more recent rulings that grant the president immunity from actions taken while president.
Organizer Susan MacNeil-Densmore said earlier this week she is affiliated with the organization Audacity CAT (Creative Action Together) which has been active locally working to resist authoritarianism, but said the event was not really part of any specific organization.