Summer of Rage, Part III — ‘Ruth Sent Us’ Unmasked: Meet Top Radical Pro-Abortion Activists Connected to Harassment of Justices

(Photos: Vincent Ricci, Jeff Kowalsky, Pat Greenhouse, Ty O'Neil, John Lamparski, Dav
V. Ricci, J. Kowalsky, P. Greenhouse, T. O'Neil, J. Lamparski, D. McNew, T. Williams/Getty

Since the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft majority opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that eventually led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, America has endured a “Summer of Rage.” The wave of demonstrations saw protesters going far beyond simply donning “Handmaid’s Tale” bonnets and gathering around the Supreme Court. There have been dozens of acts of violence, destruction, and harassment aimed at intimidating anti-abortion Christians and conservatives. In this series of articles, we will identify key players, organizations, and locations in this radical movement. We will also explain elements of the interconnected system that provides organizational and/or financial support for this radical agenda.

Read the other articles in this series:

Summer of Rage, Part I: Militant Pro-Abortion Radicals Flourish in Madison, Wisconsin; Violence ‘Meme’d’ on Twitter

Summer of Rage, Part II: Court Filings Reveal Threats, Intimidation Against Anti-Abortion Group Prior to Firebombing Claimed by ‘Jane’s Revenge’

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One group of pro-abortion activists that has risen to prominence during the “Summer of Rage” is “Ruth Sent Us”; the name is an apparent homage to former Supreme Court justice and abortion industry ally Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The organizers of the group have largely remained anonymous.

Ruth Sent Us garnered national attention after publishing the supposed location of the homes (via a Google map) of the six centrist and originalist Supreme Court justices to their website, ruthsent.us. This led to (illegal) protests targeting justices at their homes. In June, a man was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home and charged with attempted murder.

Despite their role in the unprecedented protests in Supreme Court justices’ neighborhoods, Ruth Sent Us downplayed the arrest, saying it wasn’t a “serious” assassination attempt. The group’s antics have, however, attracted the attention of TikTok, which briefly banned the group in May (but has since reinstated it) and Twitter, where the group’s account is currently suspended, presumably due to the threats and harassment.

Pro-abortion activists dressed in “Handmaid’s Tale” costumes protests on the steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston on October 25, 2020. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

A sign held by a pro-abortion protester in Detroit, Michigan, on June 24, 2022. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Pro-abortion protesters in Reno, Nevada, on June 24, 2022. (Ty O’Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Four Key Organizers

There are appear to be at least four key organizers behind Ruth Sent Us who are currently identifiable:

Sam Spiegel: The most mysterious member of the group, Spiegel is listed as the admin for ruthsent.us but has very little public footprint to confirm his identity. An attempt to contact Spiegel in the research for the Summer of Rage series was not returned. He is listed as the administrator for Vigil for Democracy, an activist group that also overlaps with several pro-choice groups, most prominently an outfit called Strike for Choice.

Vigil for Democracy created the Ruth Sent Us web site and has thus far raised thousands of dollars to support ongoing protests targeting the conservative justices.

Before it was taken down, links on ruthsent.us redirected to registration pages hosted by Strike for Choice. The Strike for Choice donation page redirects to an online fundraising platform called Open Collective. 

The Open Collective fundraising page lists Vigil for Democracy LLC as the fiscal host for Strike for Choice. Corporate records list Russell B. Silvey, Snowden Bishop, and Vara Ramakrishnan as members of the LLC.

Vara Ramakrishnan: Ramakrishnan has been publicly identified as an organizer with Strike for Choice and Vigil for Democracy on multiple occasions.

Ramakrishnan’s address is the same P.O. Box used to register ruthsent.us.

She will be featured in a future article in this investigative series.

Snowden Bishop: A cannabis journalist and radio host, Snowden registered Vigil for Democracy LLC in Arizona. That LLC handles online fundraising for Vigil, Strike for Choice, and Ruth Sent Us. The same address is home to a number of other LLCs linked to Snowden Bishop.

Russell Silvey: Silvey’s background is perhaps the most colorful of the group. He has thus far evaded any media scrutiny, even though he is listed as a member of Vigil for Democracy LLC, which handles online fundraising for groups related to Ruth Sent Us. A Russell B. Silvey is named as a member of the corporation used to handle those funds.

Silvey, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, appears to have a notable criminal rap sheet. Broward County court records show an arrest in 2016 for a number of meth-related crimes, including trafficking and conspiracy to traffic.

The address given for a Russel Silvey in court documents matches his address in the registration documents of Vigil for Democracy LLC. After his 2016 arrest, Silvey was declared indigent, claiming he had no income. Prosecutors ultimately did not charge him.

Silvey’s personal details are consistent with those of Justin Russell a.k.a. “JustResisting,” an online account connected to Ruth Sent Us. JustResisting publishes a website, podcast, and various social media accounts pushing whatever left-wing #Resistance causes are currently in vogue. Media reports have identified Justin Russell/JustResisting in connection to Ruth Sent Us, but have so far failed to connect Silvey to the group. Silvey goes by J.R. Silvey on Facebook and Linkedin; he describes himself as an art student with deep experience in blogging and social networking.

As of press time, Silvey has not responded to attempts to contact him to clarify details about his online persona(e). Messages were sent to a personal account connected to “Silvey” as well as a social media account connected to “Justin Russell” to confirm they are in fact the same individual.

While far from household names, the leaders of Ruth Sent Us, as well as the more militant Jane’s Revenge featured in part I and part II of this series, have become some of the most prominent activists in the country. Yet, they have aroused virtually no interest from the establishment media.

Alex Marlow is the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart News, the host of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM’s Patriot Channel 125, and the author of the new book, Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption. You can follow Alex on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter at @AlexMarlow.

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