A protester accused of cursing at a man who many say is responsible for getting anti-abortion judges appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court was arrested Sunday evening in Northeast Harbor.
Eli Durand-McDonnell, 23, of Bar Harbor was with other protesters outside Leonard Leo’s home when he was arrested by the Mount Desert Police Department on a charge of disorderly conduct. Leo, a summer resident of Northeast Harbor in the town of Mount Desert, is co-chair of the conservative Federalist Society, which has sought to have conservative judges appointed to the Supreme Court, in part to remove federal protections for the right to abortion.
Leo, who spearheaded lobbying campaigns to have John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, was described in a 2019 Washington Post story as “the maestro of a network of interlocking nonprofits working on media campaigns and other initiatives to sway lawmakers by generating public support for conservative judges.”
There have been periodic protests outside Leo’s home since he purchased it in 2018, including a protest in August 2019 when U.S. Sen. Susan Collins attended a campaign fundraiser there.
The protests have gotten more heated in the past month, since the court voted on June 24 to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that guaranteed the right to abortion.
James Willis, chief of the Mount Desert Police Department said that people have a right to protest outside Leo’s home in an orderly manner but his behavior crossed the line into disorderly conduct. Willis didn’t go into specifics about what Durand-McDonnell allegedly did.
According to state law, one example of disorderly conduct is when someone “knowingly accosts, insults, taunts or challenges any person with offensive, derisive or annoying words, or by gestures or other physical conduct.”
Durand-McDonnell did not respond to a request for comment about his arrest. According to people familiar with his arrest, Durand-McDonnell is accused of cursing at Leo in downtown Northeast Harbor earlier in the day.
Willis said that the protests at Leo’s house have been relatively uneventful, from a law enforcement perspective, and that Durand-McDonnell’s arrest was an isolated incident.
“We certainly want people to be able to exercise their right to peaceful protest,” Willis said.
