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The federal judiciary is warning that Congress is not providing enough money for judges’ security, at a time of escalating threats and chilling efforts at intimidation.
More than five dozen judges handling lawsuits against the Trump administration are receiving “enhanced online security screening” that typically includes scrubbing their personal information from the internet, two federal judges appointed by Republican presidents wrote on behalf of the judiciary in a letter to congressional appropriators.
President Donald Trump, senior aide Stephen Miller and billionaire Elon Musk have railed at judges who have blocked parts of Trump’s agenda, threatening impeachment and launching personal attacks. Trump’s call to impeach the judge who temporarily halted deportations using an 18th century wartime law prompted a rare quick response from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roughly 50 people have been charged with crimes in connection with the threats, U.S. Circuit Judge Amy J. St. Eve and U.S. District Robert J. Conrad Jr. said. Trump appointed St. Eve to the federal appeals court in Chicago during his first term.
“In extreme cases, the U.S. Marshals Service has been required to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of judges,” St. Eve and Conrad wrote.
Authorities have yet to make any arrests in hundreds of increasingly unsettling and unwanted pizza deliveries to the homes of judges and their children, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas said during an online forum on Tuesday.
The most recent deliveries, this week, have been sent in the name of Salas’ late son, Daniel Anderl, who was shot dead at the family home by a disgruntled lawyer in 2020.
The message is unmistakable, Salas said. “’I know where you live, I know where your kids live, and do you want end up like Judge Salas. Do you want to end up like her son?’” she said.
Last month, a sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found, police said.
The judges’ letter was sent last week, but posted online Friday by the judiciary. It calls the current funding levels unsustainable, nearly $50 million less than what the courts requested just for security.
