system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Demonstrating outside the Supreme Court is misguided (unless you're just there because the television cameras are there)

Like every other time an abortion case has been decided by the Supreme Court, yesterday we were greeted with the fundamentalist crazies of both sides protesting/demonstrating outside the court building.  These people either (1) don't understand the role of the Supreme Court or (2) are just there to be part of the news.

Holding a sign that says "protect babies" or "keep abortion legal" is going to have zero impact on the ~9~ 8 Justices deciding the case.  The Court doesn't make law, it only interprets the Constitution and laws that have been passed by congress and state legislatures.  If you want to "protect babies" or "keep abortion legal", then it is congress and state legislatures that should be the target of your demonstrations.

Demonstrating at the Supreme Court is like complaining to your credit card company because the price of the TV you bought is too high.  That wasn't the credit card company's decision, that was Best Buy's decision.
gpt
Demonstrating outside the Supreme Court has a couple of things going for it besides the TV cameras:

1. Justices of the court have unusually wide discretion over the conduct of their offices as compared to other public officials.  The demonstrators may care a lot about the specific interpretation of the law and the Constitution which the court fashions, and that fashioning is almost entirely at the discretion of the justices.  While a demonstration is probably unlikely to sway the justices, it's certainly the case that swaying the justices would produce important policy outcomes.

2. Demonstrating outside the Supreme Court building is also demonstrating outside Congress.  The Supreme Court building is across the street from the US Capitol building.  Demonstrating there can show Senators that voters care about certain issues which they might inquire about with prospective judicial nominees or integrate into passing statutes.  Protesting on the corner of First Street NE and East Capitol Street NE kills two birds with one stone.