Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) unveiled a series of training slides used to prepare Marshals for their assignments as she grilled Attorney General Merrick Garland at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday.The slides instructed the Marshals to “avoid​, unless absolutely necessary,​ any criminal enforcement​”​ ​involving protesters and that “making arrests and initiating prosecutions was not the goal” of their being stationed outside the residences of the court’s six conservative jurists.

Another slide directed Marshals not to “engage [in] protest-related enforcement” and to allow the protesters to exercise their First Amendment rights except to protect the justices and their families.​Britt said the slides were obtained from a Justice Department whistleblower who objected to Garland’s March 1 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.At that hearing, Garland insisted that Marshals were empowered to decide in the field whether to make arrests.However, another slide cited by Britt directed Marshals to clear any “enforcement action” with the local US Attorney’s office “in advance” and warned: “It is counter-productive to make [probable cause] arrests on cases that the USAO will not charge and prosecute.”