Police have told J. Kavanaugh’s neighbors that federal entities are declining to enforce a federal law against picketing a judge’s home

“They are people who come from out of the area. They have a staging point in a parking lot fairly nearby,” the source said.

Protesters typically appear two evenings a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and come in the evening at around 7 p.m. – when many of the local residents are putting their children to bed, a task made difficult when loud protesters are marching up and down the street.

“That’s when people are putting their kids to bed, there’s little kids who live on the street. It’s a horrific experience,” the source said. “It’s not great if you have kids of any age, but it’s unbelievably stressful and the kids are very upset, the kids have to be sent inside and it’s so loud you can’t put your kids to sleep.”

“They picked the exact time and they don’t care,” they said. “Literally, there’s no way on a Wednesday night you can put your kid to bed.”

While there are ground rules set by law enforcement, the source said the protesters are loud and intimidating, with chants that warn of riots if they don’t get what they want – and there have been instance of protesters abusing the neighbors as well, they said.

“They have drummers, they have a megaphone, and they chant, they yell all kinds of things… They have told neighbors ‘f— you, f— your children, things like that – and so they’re abusive toward the neighbors and intimidating.”

“They go in the street. We’ve been told that because they will move eventually when a car comes down the street, they’re not technically blocking the street,” they said.

The resident notes that there are noise ordinances that limit things like leaf blowers, and yet those ordinances are apparently not followed by the protesters.

“What we’ve also been told is that this is ‘behaving within the bounds of the law’ and the only law that could be enforced is the federal law that they’re not supposed to protest outside the home of judicial officers, but the federal partners declined to enforce that law,” they said.

The neighbor stressed that the lots are relatively small, meaning the houses are right up near the street where the protesters are yelling and chanting.

“There’s nowhere to go to get away from it,” they said. “I think people are very concerned that if there isn’t action taken, that this will escalate in a way that is very unpredictable and very unsafe and that’s what’s so discouraging, is the fact that there just doesn’t seem to be anyone in a position of leadership or authority who is considering those issues and acting on them and  trying to look for a solution rather than just allowing this possibly to escalate.”

Officials have expressed concern about the security situation related to the leak of the draft opinion. A recent Homeland Security Department report said the draft opinion has unleashed a wave of threats against officials and others and increased the likelihood of extremist violence. That was highlighted on Wednesday when Nicholas John Roske was arrested early Wednesday near Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland after threatening to kill the justice. Police said he was carrying a gun, a knife and zip ties.