The Climate of Fear Has Reached Into Unexpected Places

New York Times

3 days ago

Have you ever written words that you thought might get you killed? Have you ever written words that you worry might get someone you love killed?
That's the reality that federal judges are facing across the nation. Our awful era of intimidation and political violence has come for them, and it represents a serious threat to the independence and integrity of the American judiciary.
The details are grim. Federal judges are facing a surge in threats. As my colleagues in the newsroom reported this year, data collected by the U.S. Marshals Service shows that 80 judges received threats in the five months before March 1. In the six weeks that followed — a period that coincided with a sharp increase in MAGA complaints online about judicial rulings — 162 judges received threats.
To say that judges 'received threats' is a bland way of describing a series of terrifying messages and encounters. A week ago, a group called Speak Up for Justice, which advocates an independent judiciary, hosted five sitting federal judges who publicly shared their stories.
Judge Jack McConnell, who issued a ruling against the Trump administration in March, said his court has received more than 400 'vile, threatening, horrible voice mails.' At the start of the event, Judge McConnell played one of those messages, a furious, profanity-laden tirade that included an explicit assassination threat.
Judge McConnell said that he'd been on the bench for almost 15 years, and that this was the 'one time that actually shook my faith in the judicial system and the rule of law.'
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