Protesters rally outside Mitch McConnell's Louisville home in wake of RBG death

Louisville Courier Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of more than 100 protesters gathered outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's home Saturday after the Kentucky legislator said he would push to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

McConnell issued a statement late Friday saying he intends to hold a vote on whomever President Donald Trump nominates to succeed Ginsburg, though Election Day is less than two months away.

Protesters lined the streets the next day in front of the senator's home in the Belknap neighborhood shortly after noon, chanting "Hey hey, ho ho, Mitch McConnell has got to go" and "vote him out" as several passing drivers honked and waved support.

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3:30 p.m. — Protest ends

Following one arrest at a nearby CVS, police and protesters left the area.

2:45 p.m. — Woman arrested

Louisville Metro Police officers arrested one protester as she attempted to remove her car from the CVS parking lot.

An officer on the scene said the department had planned to tow the woman's vehicle because she was not patronizing the business. And after the woman went inside the story to purchase "a six-pack of beer" so that her car would not be towed, the officer arrested her on charges of disorderly conduct and an improper parking violation, according to a video from Courier Journal reporter Hayes Gardner.

Following the arrest, several protesters entered the CVS, where they chanted in the store. One kicked a glass door, damaging it.

Officers entered the store and asked everyone who was not shopping to leave. Shortly after, members of LMPD's special response team arrived to clear the scene.

2:15 p.m. — Police remove vehicles from roadway

The area outside McConnell's home was mostly clear about two hours after the rally began.

Following tense moments between protesters and police, officers agreed to remove their vehicles from blocking traffic on Dundee Road, though several remained to speak with activists and make sure the group kept the roadway clear.

A small number of protesters continued to hold signs and chant along the sidewalk, invoking both Breonna Taylor's name and calling on voters to "Ditch Mitch."

1:15 p.m. — Protesters face off with police

Tensions rose as protesters and police had a heated discussion over blocking the road, with demonstrators saying they had a right to remain in the street as long as traffic could still pass safely.

Eventually, a Louisville Metro Police officer declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and warned demonstrators that if they stayed in the street, they could face arrest.

"If there's anybody on the road, it's unlawful," the officer told group of people who had surrounded an LMPD cruiser. "You have to stay on the sidewalks."

12:45 p.m. — Police arrive at demonstration

Several LMPD officers arrived at the protest shortly before 1 p.m. and asked demonstrators to keep the residential area's streets clear to traffic.

Protesters had generally remained on a sidewalk outside McConnell's home before the officers arrived, according to Courier Journal reporters on-scene at the rally. But at the presence of police, some demonstrators began encouraging others to stand in the road, while others argued that the group should continue spreading out along the sidewalk.

Police eventually moved to the edges of the demonstration and blocked traffic near the intersection of Yale Drive and Dundee Road, stating that vehicles driving down a hill may not spot protesters in the roadway before it was too late.

12:30 p.m. — Protesters say calls unanswered

Several protesters said they chose to stand outside McConnell's home because they have been unable to leave voicemails about their concerns or reach anyone in the senator's office.

One woman said "I am a constituent of his, not just certain people. So I would like him to listen to me as well."

"He's in office because of we the people, and he's not giving us that opportunity to hear what we have to say," she said.

Noon — Protesters line sidewalks in front of McConnell's home

Laura Johnsrude of Prospect was one of several protesters at the rally who brought a sign reading, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."

“I’m disgusted that Senator McConnell would treat this opportunity in a complete different manner than he treated the opportunity when there was a vacancy when Obama was nine or 10 months away from the election," Johnsrude said. "I’m not surprised, but I am disgusted. I think that’s appalling."

Those sentences are a callback to a 2016 statement from McConnell following the death of U.S. Justice Antonin Scalia.

That year, McConnell led Senate Republicans in deciding to block then-President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to replace Scalia because it was a presidential election year.

In his statement Friday, McConnell made it clear he sees the situation in 2020 as different from the one the Senate faced in 2016.

"In the last midterm election before Justice Scalia’s death in 2016, Americans elected a Republican Senate majority because we pledged to check and balance the last days of a lame-duck president’s second term. We kept our promise," he said.

"Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.

"By contrast, Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary," he continued. "Once again, we will keep our promise."

Earlier this summer, a group of young activists marched on McConnell's home in an early morning demonstration meant to let the long-time politician know their generation is looking for new leadership.

"Not only are we wide awake to the problems that we face," said Maxwell Farrar, 29, of the Sunrise Movement, "but we're also wide awake to the solutions that we need. We're not here to just complain on the internet. We're here to get the solutions we need. We know, from the hood to the holler, Kentuckians know we need change right now."

Reporter Morgan Watkins contributed to this report.