Federal Judges are facing a surge in threats to their safety and health

• The US Marshals Service has responded to an extraordinary rise in threats against federal judges.
• The federal court in Washington, DC received suspicious packages at least three times this calendar year.
• Another incident saw police responding to a “swatting” hoax call at the home of a judge.

Many Washington, DC residents gathered at a federal courthouse to be selected as jurors in the trial for a murder. New York City retired copAccused of assaultingA police officer in the attack on the US Capitol, January 6, 2021.

Gathered on an upper floor, many in the randomly-summoned group waited patiently — if apprehensively — for their turn to field questions from the judge, prosecutors, and defense lawyers. 

Unbeknownst, they were unaware that a terrible development was unfolding on the floors below. The courthouse staff found a suspicious powdery substance when they were sorting mail. Security alerted the mailroom staff and stopped airflow immediately. Soon, a hazmat team arrived.

This was not the first suspicious package that had been brought to the courthouse. On August 16, another package with a powdery substance evaded the courthouse screening process and reached the chambers of Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly  — a rare breach that unnerved several judges and courthouse staff, according to people familiar with the previously unreported incident. 

The Washington, DC, Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesperson confirmed that the August hazmat response was made to the federal courthouse and revealed that the suspicious package contained baby powder. According to sources familiar with these incidents, two previous suspicious packages in February and March contained substances that were also nonhazardous.

The succession of suspicious packages was reminiscent of anthrax-laced letters that — sent via US mail — targeted government offices and newsrooms shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The biological terrorist Five people died as a result.. 

The two packages that were delivered to DC’s federal courthouse came just months apart and served as reminders of the increasing threats faced by judges in the country.

That growing threat has been particularly pronounced in the nation’s capital, where the federal trial court — long accustomed to high-profile, politically-charged cases — has been handling the wave of criminal prosecutions stemming from the January 6 Capitol attack.

For example, on July 21st, police arrived at Judge Emmett Sullivan’s home shortly after 11:15 pm. He was scheduled to preside over the plea hearing for a far-right blogger facing charges related to the Capitol Attack.

According to police reports and people who were present, a fake person claimed to be Sullivan in a hoax call known as a “swatting”.

Bloomberg first reportedOn the “swatting” incident.

According to the police report, officers arrived on the scene and found no threat. Sullivan was “safe” and “secure.” But the “swatting” could have ended badly — even tragically — with Similar incidentsInnocent people are often hurt or killed across the country.

A police department spokesperson said the “swatting” — a term that refers to SWAT, or “special weapon and tactics” teams — remains under investigation.

Kollar Kotelly, a veteran judge of the federal trial court in Washington DC, has declined to comment. Sullivan, a 1994 senior judge, declined to comment about the “swatting.”

Insider spoke with Chief Judge Beryl Whatell, who acknowledged the rise of threats but maintained her confidence in courthouse security. She also stated that the US Marshals Service was protecting her.

Howell stated, “Our Marshal was active in informing judges regarding the security measures being taken. The judges have confidence in our systems.”

A supreme threat

Early June, one month after the end of a Draft opinion leakedThe Supreme Court was ready to repeal Roe v. Wade, roll back constitutional rights to abortion, so police arrested a man with a gun, knife and zip ties at the Maryland home Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

According to prosecutors, Nicholas John Roske arrived in a taxi at Kavanaugh’s house on June 8th dressed in black. Roske would tell police that he was upset with the leaked draft opinion and planned to break into Kavanaugh’s house and kill him — then turn his Glock 17 pistol on himself, according to a Criminal complaint AffidavitFiled in federal court

He pleaded not guilty in the attempted assassination of Kavanaugh, a justice appointed to him by President Donald Trump.

Merrick Garland, Attorney General, issued an order weeks before Roske’s arrest Protection around the clockAs a response to the leaked draft opinion, all Supreme Court justices were notified at their residences. The threat to the federal judiciary was brought to public attention by the arrest. Federal officials have been tracking a steady rise in threats and “inappropriate communication” against federal judges and other federal employees under the protection US Marshals Service for many years.

During the fiscal year that ended in September 2021, the Marshals Service logged 4,511 threats and inappropriate communications against judges and other protectees — nearly double the 2,357 reported in fiscal year 2016, according to government dataInsider. 

The Trump administration’s early years saw an increase in threats. jumpingFrom 2,847 in fiscal 2017 to 4,542 fiscal 2018.

According to the Marshals Service, the total has remained at above 4,000 each year since. Report for fiscal year 2021 — the latest year for which data are available.

https://www.usmarshals.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/PUB-2-2021-Annual-Report.pdf

A grand jury indicted a Pennsylvanian man as recently Wednesday ChargesHe sent a letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson (chair of the House January 6-committee) containing what appeared like a white powder. The letter contained a message referring to anthrax, which included threats to Thompson’s family, President Joe Biden and Judge Robert D. Mariani from the US District Court for Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Trump connections

Many threats were made against judges just months after Kavanaugh’s arrest. 

Bruce Reinhardt Magistrate, who approved the warrant authorizing August 8 searches, faced an onslaught antisemitic attacks, threats online, and some even targeting the synagogue, where he sits on the board. 

A September Texas woman was ArrestOn charges that she left threats messages on Judge Aileen Conn’s voicemail, the Trump appointee who presided over the legal challenges by the FBI to seize thousands of records from Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The voicemails contained threats to assassinate Cannon in front of her family, citing that she had “helped” the former president. Court filings.

John Jones, a former federal judge, said that Reinhardt’s threats are part of an “all too familiar,” trend.

Jones is the president of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, I wrote.

His op-ed title was “I’m afraid that a judge will be killed.”

Jones was a Presidential appointee. He cited the “radicalized statements” and “utterly false narratives” that were propagated by Trump’s followers.

Trump openly disparaged his administration’s decisions and impugned judges on both the campaign trail and during his term in office. Trump, for example, questioned the impartiality of a judge in a case against Trump University that involved Gonzalo Curiel, a San Diego District Judge. Trump called Curiel, who was born in Indiana, a “hater Donald Trump”, and demanded that the judge be removed from the case.

2019: A federal judge in Washington, DC BlameTrump’s belief in reflexive judges deciding cases based not on law reading but on personal political beliefs is a growing trend.

Senior Judge Paul Friedman said, “We are on uncharted territory”, in an annual lecture at Washington’s federal trial court.

Friedman stated, “We are witnessing the chief executive who criticizes practically every judicial ruling that doesn’t go his direction and denigrates judges which rule against him. Sometimes in very personal terms.” Friedman said, “He seems not to see the justice system and courts as co-equal branches to be respected and respected even when they disagree with his decisions.”

Jones spoke with Insider about the growing threats to judges. Jones said that the “road-rage society” is a place where public officials don’t limit their criticism to points of disagreement, but question the character of those who stand in their way. 

It’s totally irresponsible. Jones stated to Insider that it was like public figure malpractice. “We’re dealing with a very volatile public at this time.” “I am sickened that we can’t moderate some rhetoric. It has literally turned into so toxic that I fear we will get someone hurt or even killed by it.”

He said that it is a cultural problem and that there is no legislation to stop it.

He said that legislation can help at the very least.

Congressional solutions

Congress has authorized additional funding to increase the security of federal judges. 

Despite bipartisan agreement, a bill that would make it more difficult to find judges’ personal information online, including their addresses, was blocked.

Introduced Last year?, Daniel Anderl Privacy and Security Act Named after Judge Esther Salas’ son, the federal trial judge in New Jersey. A man dressed as a deliveryman arrived at her house in July 2020. He had previously litigated a case. He Shot fatallyAnderl as he opened the door. 

Salas’s husband was injured in the shooting. The judge was also present in the basement.

In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Salas revealed that the FBI had found evidence that the gunman — who committed suicide after killing her son — was planning an attack on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. 

“Who knows what could have happened? We must understand that judges are at high risk,” Salas stated. “We put ourselves in great peril every day to do our jobs.”   

Salas has been pushing for passage of the Judiciary Security Bill, which would ban commercial data brokers from buying, selling, trading, or buying personal information about judges or their immediate family members. This legislation would also prohibit government agencies from posting such information online. It would also provide funding for state- and local governments to clean out judges’ personal data databases.

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul has blocked the bill. Paul, a Kentucky Republican, stated in a June floor speech that he supported the bill and believes that its protections should extend to lawmakers. 

Paul stated, pointing out the shootings of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (an Arizona Democrat) and Rep. Steve Scalise (a Louisiana Republican). “I agree that members in the judicial branch require better protection. But if recent years teach us anything, it is that members members of the legislative branch require better protection as well.”

Paul himself sufferedHe sustained serious injuries, including six fractured ribs in the attack by a neighbor late 2017.

Dominic Bracco/The Washington Post

‘Robes aren’t bulletproof’

Sullivan says that the July “swatting,” was not his first encounter involving a danger to his safety.

A man from Long Island, New York called Sullivan’s chambers in 2020 and left a voicemail stating that he would not be safe. 

Sullivan was presiding at the Justice Department’s trial of Michael Flynn, a former general and Trump national security adviser. He was charged with lying to the FBI regarding his communications with Russia’s ambassador to America in the run-up to Trump’s inauguration. Flynn was pardoned by Trump after the Justice Department dropped his charges.

Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced man who called into Sullivan chambers to 18 month imprisonment, describing the threat of being “heinous.”

McFadden: “Judicial gowns aren’t bulletproof.” .

On July 22, US Marshal Lamont Ruffin, acting US Marshal, sent judges an email with instructions to follow if the judge is subject to “swatting” similar to what Sullivan had experienced. 

In his email, he instructed judges to permit themselves to be detained and have their homes searched. He also advised them to notify police as soon as possible about their Marshals Service status.

Ruffin stated that his office believed that the July 21 hoax call was intended to intimidate Sullivan into putting off a scheduled plea hearing for the next day. While his email didn’t specify the case details, Sullivan was scheduled to hear a guilty plea by Anthime Gionet. Gionet is a far-right blogger and video producer known as “Baked Alaska”, who had used his online platform for this purpose. call attentionTo his prosecution.

According to court records, the plea hearing was held as planned. Sullivan scheduled Gionet’s January sentencing. The case was randomly assigned to McFadden by the court on Wednesday.

The Marshals Service declined permission to speak with Ruffin or Ronald Davis, the Marshals Service director. After publication of this article, The Marshals Service replied to questions Insider had sent earlier this month. They declined to comment on specific incidents.

A Marshals Service spokesperson indicated that they are expanding their efforts to train judges and their families about how to report potential threats. The Marshals Service created an open-source intelligence unit last year to increase its ability to search online for threats, according to a spokesperson.

The spokesperson stated that the security of the federal judiciary is the foundation of democracy in the United States. “The Marshals take this responsibility very seriously.” “Federal judges make difficult decisions based on law, in large part because Marshals ensure that they can do this without fear, intimidation or retaliation.”

The court tightened its mail handling procedures after the suspicious package was found in Kollar-Kotelly’s chambers. This was only one of many security measures that the courthouse took to address rising threats.

Chief federal trial judge in Washington, DC, Howell, stated that the courthouse is built on a strong foundation of security.

She said that “we’re focused” on our work as judges.

This article was updated to reflect Judge Emmett Sullivan’s refusal to comment. It also includes comments from the US Marshals Service.