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1842 words
- The report interviewed 26 federal judges about threats and intimidation. The group included nine Democratic appointees and 17 Republican appointees, both sitting and retired. Sitting judges described feeling under siege, and most refused to appear on camera because they feared for their safety.
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- Trump has repeatedly attacked judges who rule against his administration, including justices he appointed. After the Supreme Court struck down his tariffs, he called two of his own nominees fools and lapdogs. The report describes a recurring pattern in which attacks by the president are followed by violent threats from his supporters.
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- Judge John Coughenour became a target after blocking Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship. Trump had signed an executive order seeking to end the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship for children born on American soil to non-citizens. Coughenour ruled the order "blatantly unconstitutional."
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- Police officers arrived at Coughenour's home with weapons drawn following a false murder report. Five sheriff's deputies carrying long rifles told him they had received a report that he had murdered his wife and wanted to see her. The report was a cruel hoax; a bomb threat followed the next day.
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- A congressman had a wanted poster featuring several judges. Coughenour described the poster as displaying the word "wanted" prominently, with photographs of several judges. He said it contained everything except the words "dead or alive." The congressman's identity was not provided.
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- Coughenour received dozens, possibly hundreds, of death threats after his birthright citizenship ruling. He had previously sentenced an Al-Qaeda bomber and members of Montana militias and had required round-the-clock protection. Despite those experiences, he said he had never received as many death threats as he did following this particular ruling.
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- Coughenour considers the hostility toward federal judges unprecedented in his 44-year career. He said he had never encountered anything comparable to the hostility directed at the judiciary during the preceding year. He attributed it not to judges making bad decisions, but to political figures seeking political advantage by attacking the federal courts.
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- Trump's public descriptions of judges have included increasingly inflammatory language. After losing a court battle over migrant deportations, he called a judge a lunatic. When immigration enforcement measures were ruled illegal, he called the judges monsters. The report connects this rhetoric with the subsequent torrent of death threats.
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- The report also includes a political statement describing judges as communist radical-left obstructionists. The statement accused them of obstructing enforcement of American laws and improperly assuming responsibilities belonging exclusively to the president. This framing presents judicial oversight as an illegitimate interference with presidential authority.
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- Hundreds of threatening messages have been left on federal judges' voicemails. One caller threatened sexual violence against a judge's family and described beheading them after the judge ruled that the president had violated the First Amendment. Another called for the assassination of a judge who ruled that the president could not eliminate certain government benefits.
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- The US Marshals Service is responsible for identifying which verbal threats could develop into physical violence. Judges interviewed said the Marshals were overwhelmed by the volume of threats. The problem is no longer limited to isolated angry communications; authorities must assess which threats indicate an imminent physical danger.
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- Serious threats against federal judges increased by 78% over four years. In the year cited by the report, 400 federal judges were targets of serious threats. One judge warned that unless the situation was controlled, a judge would eventually be killed.
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- Retired Judge John Jones helped organize a bipartisan effort to defend judicial independence. Jones, a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush, joined 55 other retired judges in forming a group that lobbied the White House to stop demonizing judges. Their concern included armed individuals identifying judges' home addresses and potentially attacking judges or their family members.
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- Jones believes Trump's attacks are intended to delegitimize the federal judiciary. He argued that the administration's approach is part of an expansion of presidential power, describing the presidency as operating "on steroids" while Congress remains largely dormant. He believes the president is attempting to exercise authority over what the law means rather than faithfully executing laws made by Congress.
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- The Trump administration is facing approximately 600 lawsuits challenging its agenda. The cases cover issues including immigration policies and government job cuts. Judges deciding these challenges have consequently become central targets in the political conflict between the administration and its opponents.
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- Judge Esther Salas has become a prominent public critic of personal attacks against judges. Salas is a federal district court judge in New Jersey appointed by Barack Obama. Her willingness to speak publicly about the threats against the judiciary has itself made her a target of death threats.
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- Salas has personally experienced the consequences of violence against judges. In 2020, a failed litigant came to her home and shot her son Daniel dead, while wounding her husband, Mark. The attack was not politically motivated, but the experience gives her particular insight into the dangers judges and their families face.
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- Salas says she is more worried about judicial safety now than she was after her son was murdered. She believes attacks against the judiciary are getting worse and that the hostility is now coming from the country's national leadership downward. She considers the current environment substantially different from what she had previously experienced.
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- Salas believes attacking judges undermines public trust in the courts. She argues that anyone who disagrees with a judicial ruling or sentence should appeal through the legal system. The proper response is not to dehumanize judges or portray them as enemies.
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- Salas believes political rhetoric emboldens people to threaten and potentially attack judges. She compared the behavior of political leaders to playing Russian roulette with judges' lives. When directly asked whether inflammatory rhetoric encourages individuals to act violently, she answered yes.
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- The White House defended Trump by citing his own experience with political violence. In a statement, it said that, as a survivor of two assassination attempts, Trump understands the dangers of political violence better than anyone. However, it also accused the judiciary of brazen defiance through unlawful rulings and described judges as activists.
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- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche described the administration's conflict with federal judges as a war. He complained that the administration was repeatedly receiving stays and reversals because local judges were allegedly failing to follow the law. He also suggested that the repeated involvement of certain judges was intentional rather than coincidental.
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- Blanche declined an interview but issued a written statement criticizing judicial injunctions. He argued that some judges continued to issue overbroad and inadequately reasoned injunctions. However, he also acknowledged that threats and intimidation directed at federal officials are unlawful.
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- Coughenour argues that applying the Constitution, rather than advancing political interests, is a judge's fundamental responsibility. He said judges have determined whether government actions are constitutional for approximately 250 years. Without judges willing to make and enforce those decisions, he warned, the American Constitution could become comparable to the Russian Constitution in practical effect.
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- Threats against judges have also come from Democratic political figures. In 2020, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they would "pay the price" for restricting abortion rights. Schumer subsequently apologized.
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- Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the target of an attempted assassination in 2022. A would-be assassin was arrested for attempting to kill him at his home. The incident demonstrates that threats against judges and Supreme Court justices can progress beyond rhetoric into attempted physical violence.
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- Jones acknowledges worsening political rhetoric on both sides but rejects the suggestion that the conduct is equivalent. He said rhetoric from both parties had deteriorated over time, but argued there was no evidence that Democratic politicians had behaved in a manner comparable to the Trump administration's treatment of federal judges. The report also refers to a database containing the names and home addresses of hundreds of elected officials and judges.
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- Ron Zeigler runs Iron Wall, a company that removes judges' personal information from the internet. His work involves protecting judges from people who use publicly available personal information to locate and threaten them. He said that in 14 years of doing this work, he had never witnessed as many violent threats as he was seeing at the time of the report.
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- A threat broadcast to a large audience requires only one person to act on it to become deadly. Zeigler explained that when inflammatory messages reach a million people, only one individual needs to respond violently for the threat to become real. He identified this as one of the most frightening aspects of the current environment.
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- Zeigler also investigates threats circulating on the dark web. He showed material involving gallows imagery and anonymous individuals seeking to cause real-world harm. His investigations suggest that intimidation is increasingly being used not simply to punish judges for previous decisions, but to influence decisions they have yet to make.
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- Threats are evolving from retaliation into attempts to control judicial decisions. Zeigler contrasted earlier threats, which generally expressed anger over a ruling against the sender, with newer threats intended to pressure judges into making decisions that satisfy a threatening group. He described the behavior as mob mentality and an attempt to intimidate judges into compliance.
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- The US Marshals are investigating hundreds of unsolicited pizza deliveries sent to judges and their children. Although pizza deliveries appear harmless, the accompanying messages warned recipients that the senders knew where they and their children lived. Some explicitly threatened that judges' children could suffer the same fate as Judge Salas's son.
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- At least 20 pizza deliveries were sent to homes using the name of Salas's murdered son. Salas discovered that Daniel's name had been entered on the order forms. She described the practice as weaponizing her dead child's identity to frighten judges and their families.
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- Salas criticized the apparent absence of public condemnation from senior Justice Department leadership. She said she had yet to see Attorney General Pam Bondi or Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche publicly stand at a podium and denounce these forms of intimidation. Bondi also declined the program's request for an interview.
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- Salas sees the intimidation campaign as a threat to the rule of law and American democracy. Speaking as Daniel's mother and as someone who lost her only child, she said the behavior of political leaders and powerful figures makes her deeply sad and worried. She fears that continued attacks on the judiciary will damage the democratic institutions that protect constitutional government.
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