Amidst escalating threats and efforts at intimidation, the federal judiciary has raised concerns about Congress’s insufficient funding for judges’ security. More than sixty judges involved in lawsuits against the Trump administration are receiving enhanced online security measures, which generally involve removing their personal information from the internet. This action was highlighted in a letter to congressional appropriators by two federal judges appointed by Republican presidents.
President Donald Trump, senior aide Stephen Miller, and billionaire Elon Musk have criticized judges who have blocked elements of Trump’s agenda, going as far as threatening impeachment and launching personal attacks. Trump’s suggestion to impeach a judge who halted deportations under an 18th-century wartime law led to an unusually swift response from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Federal authorities have charged approximately 50 individuals in connection with these threats, according to U.S. Circuit Judge Amy J. St. Eve and U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. St. Eve, who was appointed to the federal appeals court in Chicago during Trump’s first term, noted that in extreme situations, the U.S. Marshals Service has had to take extraordinary measures to protect judges.
Despite these charges, no arrests have been made regarding numerous unsettling and unwanted pizza deliveries to judges’ homes, including those of their children, as stated by U.S. District Judge Esther Salas during an online forum. The latest of these deliveries, received this week, were made in the name of Salas’ late son, Daniel Anderl, who was tragically shot by a disgruntled lawyer in 2020. Salas emphasized the threatening message behind these actions, indicating awareness of the judges’ and their families’ residences.
Last month, a sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was targeted in a bomb threat incident in Charleston, South Carolina, though no bomb was found. The judiciary’s letter to Congress, sent last week and posted online on Friday, calls the current funding levels unsustainable, highlighting that it falls nearly $50 million short of what is needed solely for security purposes.
