In rare and impassioned public statements, a number of federal judges cautioned Thursday that the language of the Trump administration is fueling growing threats against the judiciary, and that these attacks are eroding public confidence in the rule of law.
Judges told terrifying personal tales, described violent threats they have received, and drew alarming historical similarities to authoritarian regimes that first gained power by undermining the courts while speaking at a judicial independence conference organized by the nonpartisan organization Speak Up for Justice.
It feels different now. According to U.S. District Judge Esther Salas of New Jersey, it is character assassination rather than merely criticism. Those at the top of the administration are calling us crazy, communist, and unconstitutional judges.
Salas’ appeal for decorum was especially persuasive. A frustrated lawyer who had previously stood before her in court killed her 20-year-old son in 2020. The attacker pretended to be a delivery person. Salas called on political leaders to stop attacking judges with fire.
We accept appeals. Disagreement is welcomed. But labeling us villains, dehumanizing us? According to Salas, that is an invitation to violence rather than criticism.
Voicemails and Threats Increase Following Decisions
Shortly after temporarily halting a Trump administration policy on federal grants, U.S. District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island got a terrifying message that kicked off the conference.
The caller identified himself by name and phone number, saying, “Tell the son of a b**** we’re coming for him. I wish someone would assassinate your a**.”
Six credible death threats were among the more than 400 threatening voicemails that McConnell said his court received in the days that followed. Several conversations alluded to arrangements for Smith & Wesson to visit and referenced tracking his address on the dark web.
“This was the first time my faith in the system was genuinely shaken, even though I’ve been on the bench for almost 15 years,” McConnell told the audience. All I want to do is follow the Constitution and perform my job.
Other forms of targeting were also mentioned by McConnell, such as a pizza doxxing campaign, in which anonymous actors deliver pizzas to a person’s house to demonstrate that they are familiar with the address. A few of such directives were issued in the late son of Judge Salas’ name.
The Judiciary Is Under Attack
Similar situations were reported by judges across. Seattle-based U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik claimed that pizza deliveries made in Salas’ son’s name were also directed at him and his kids. The U.S. Marshals Service is looking into the approximately 50 judges who have been targeted in this manner, he said.
John Coughenour, another judge from Seattle, described a swatting incident and a bomb threat in which police were mistakenly informed that he had murdered his wife.
What sort of individual does that? Coughenour inquired. It is repulsive.
Coughenour also cautioned that a common phase in the establishment of authoritarian regimes is the weakening of the judiciary. He claimed that the attacks on the courts and the rule of law began in Germany in the 1930s, Cambodia in the 1970s, and Rwanda.
The Bondi complaint was interpreted as intimidating.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of Washington, D.C., was the target of a formal misconduct complaint filed by Attorney General Pam Bondi only days prior to the conference for raising concerns that the Trump administration might be disobeying court decisions.
The complaint, according to legal experts, is a pressure technique intended to frighten judges and deter them from looking into executive overreach.
According to Salas, these attacks are putting lives in peril and are no longer merely political talking points. Instead of stoking the fires of violence and mistrust, we need leaders who protect the judiciary’s independence.
