Marshals’ data show spike in threats against federal judges

By Mattathias Schwartz

Threats against federal judges have risen drastically since President Donald Trump took office, according to internal data compiled by the U.S. Marshals Service.

In the five-month period leading up to March 1 of this year, 80 individual judges had received threats, the data show.

Then, over the next six weeks, an additional 162 judges received threats, a dramatic increase. That spike in threats coincided with a flood of harsh rhetoric — often from Trump — criticizing judges who have ruled against the administration and, in some cases, calling on Congress to impeach them.

Many judges have already spoken out, worrying about the possibility of violence and urging political leaders to tone things down.

Since mid-April, the pace of the threats has slowed slightly, the data show. Between April 14 and May 27, it shows 35 additional individual judges received threats. Still, the total number of judges threatened this fiscal year — 277 — represents roughly a third of the judiciary.

The threat data was not released publicly but was provided to The New York Times by Judge Esther Salas of U.S. District Court for New Jersey, who said she obtained it from the Marshals Service, which is tasked by law with overseeing security for the judiciary.

In 2020, Salas’ son, Daniel Anderl, was shot and killed at the entrance of her home by a self-described “anti-feminist” lawyer, and since then she has advocated judicial safety.

“This has nothing to do with hysteria or hyperbole,” she said in an interview. “These numbers tell a dramatic story. They show a spike that ought to be alarming and concerning to everyone.”

Spokespeople for the White House and the marshals did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The marshals define a threat as “any action or communication, whether explicit or implied, of intent to assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate or interfere” with any marshals-protected person, including federal judges, according to an internal document reviewed by the Times. That language mirrors a federal statute that treats as criminals those who interfere with federal officials performing their duties.

Threats against judges have been rising in recent years, including before Trump took office.

Marshals Service data show there were threats against more than 400 individual judges in 2023, the year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion. In June 2022, after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe leaked, an armed man tried to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home.

A series of judges have blocked Trump’s sweeping executive actions, including his efforts to deliver on his campaign promise of mass deportations.

Last week, a federal judge in Boston ordered the United States to maintain custody of a group of deportees whom the administration is trying to send to South Sudan, and to bring back another deportee now in hiding in Guatemala.

In a statement, the White House called the judge, Brian E. Murphy, a “far-left activist.” Trump broadened the attack Monday, condemning “USA hating judges who suffer from an ideology that is sick, and very dangerous for our country,” in a social media post rendered in all capital letters.

Some judges who have ruled against the administration have received unwelcome pizza deliveries at their homes, and at the homes of their family members. Authorities are investigating the matter. Salas said she had learned from the marshals that 103 pizzas had been sent anonymously, including 20 in the name of her dead son.