Introduction & Context
Violence against the judiciary undermines rule-of-law foundations. Recent incidents include a fake bomb scare and pizzas ordered to judges’ homes under slain relatives’ names—a chilling evolution from online harassment to real-world intimidation.
Background & History
High-profile killings—Judge Kocurek’s 2015 shooting, Judge Salas’s son in 2020—spurred calls for privacy safeguards like sealing home addresses, but implementation lagged.
Key Stakeholders & Perspectives
Judges demand resources; lawmakers debate budgets; civil libertarians caution against over-secrecy; extremist watchers track how political figures’ posts correlate with threat spikes.
Analysis & Implications
Escalating threats may deter qualified candidates, skewing judiciary diversity and delaying verdicts. Women judges, already under-represented, bear disproportionate risk, potentially affecting gender-sensitive case outcomes.
Looking Ahead
Congressional hearings in June will weigh expanding U.S. Marshals’ protective reach and funding home-security grants for judges—a measure that could pass on rare bipartisan accord.