Latest news with #EstherSalas
Washington Post
5 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Sharp spike in threats to judges prompts calls for more security
A spike in threats against federal judges since President Donald Trump took office is prompting calls for new funding and security measures, with current and former jurists, lawmakers, and law enforcement officials saying existing protections are not enough. The U.S. Marshals Service investigated 373 separate threats to judges in the first five months of 2025, compared with 509 probes all of last year, according to agency data that U.S. District Judge Esther Salas of New Jersey shared with The Washington Post. The threats targeted 277 judges, some of whom were threatened more than once, compared with 379 judges threatened in all of 2024.
New York Times
27-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Marshals' Data Shows Spike in Threats Against Federal Judges
Threats against federal judges have risen drastically since President 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 shows. 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 Mr. Trump himself — 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 shows. 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 Federal 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, Judge 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.' Spokesmen 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 Mr. Trump took office. Marshals Service data shows 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 M. Kavanaugh at his home. A series of judges have blocked Mr. 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. Mr. Trump called the judge, Brian E. Murphy, a 'far-left activist' and then broadened his attack on 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. The authorities are investigating the matter. Judge Salas said she had learned from the marshals that 103 pizzas had been sent anonymously, including 20 in the name of her dead son.
CBS News
14-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Federal judges targeted nationwide by "pizza doxxings"
As federal judges endure a rise in threats, CBS News has learned that some jurists have faced strange, unnerving incidents in which an unknown person orders a pizza to their home address in an apparent attempt to menace them. The top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., has called the incidents "pizza doxxing" — a spin on "doxxing," in which somebody's address or other personal information is maliciously made public, often as a form of intimidation. In about two dozen cases nationwide, judges have gotten unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the late son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, the New Jersey judge told CBS News. Anderl was killed at the family's New Jersey home in 2020 by a disgruntled gunman who was targeting Salas. Salas called the cases attempts at "psychological warfare" against judges. Salas says the perpetrators have not been identified. She plans to meet with officials at the U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday to talk about the threats. A U.S. Marshals Service official told CBS News the agency — which handles judicial security — is "looking into all the unsolicited pizza deliveries to federal judges and taking appropriate steps to address the matter." During a news conference Tuesday, outgoing U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin said "pizza doxxers" are also a focus of the federal prosecutor's office in the nation's capital, a jurisdiction where a large number of federal judges reside. Former FBI agent Mike Clark, who leads the Society of Retired FBI Agents, told CBS News the incidents appear to be designed to send a threatening and menacing message to judges. "To do this, is inviting tragedy and something terrible to happen. They're making a mockery of the justice system and they're playing a dangerous game," Clark said. Security analysts have previously warned "pizza doxxing" — or hoax deliveries — could also be a technique to lure a public official to the front door of his or her home, to confirm their address for a possible future attack. Threats against judges have been on the rise in recent years, part of a broader trend for public officials. The U.S. Marshals Service recorded more than 450 threats against federal judges in 2023, up more than 300 from 2019, with threats against prosecutors also growing at a rapid clip over the same period, CBS News has previously reported. In a separate interview with CBS News in March, Salas said, "I worry for judicial officers who have to render tough decisions, who have to render decisions that may be unpopular to some individuals." She also cited "the inflammatory rhetoric and language that's coming from both our leaders as well as people in positions of power that have large platforms." "Those are dangerous combinations, because … we don't know what might set someone off," she said. "I'm living proof. My son isn't here anymore."
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MAGA Is Bombarding Judges With Pizzas in ‘Intimidation' Plot
The nation's justices are facing a bizarre new scourge of food delivery pranks they say are designed to intimidate them into not challenging President Donald Trump's policies in court. Federal judges told the Washington Post that pizza orders, possibly numbering in the hundreds, have been sent to the homes of jurists in at least seven states since Trump assumed office for the second time. The stunts appear to eerily draw upon the 2016 Pizzagate conspiracy theory, an extremist MAGA claiming the existence of a Satanic pedophilia ring in the Democratic Party. Michelle Childs, a Washington Circuit Judge, told WaPo that she'd received no less than seven anonymous deliveries to her home since the beginning of February, with one arriving not long after she contributed to a ruling against the White House over firings at a government watchdog. 'It's unsettling because I'd like to go to work every day, even with the hardest case, just feeling like there's no sense of intimidation,' Childs said, adding, 'You need a strong judiciary for the system to work. This is infringing on democracy generally.' Some of the orders have turned up under the name of New Jersey District Judge Esther Salas' son, Daniel Anderl—who was shot dead at their family home back in 2020 by a disgruntled attorney disguised as a delivery driver. 'It went from judges getting pizzas, to then judges' children getting pizzas, to then judges getting pizzas that they didn't order in my murdered son's name,' Salas said, further describing the pranks as an act of 'psychological warfare.' With orders in her son's name turning up at the homes of jurists in D.C., Rhode Island, New York, California, Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland and Oregon, Salas believes the pranksters are using her son's death as a warning. 'We know the first is, 'I know where you live.' Second is, 'We know where your children live.' And the third now is, 'Do you want to end up like Judge Salas? Do you want to end up like Daniel?'' she said. Victims of these pranks have reported their experiences to the Marshals Service, which has apparently now begun compiling testimonies and making efforts to track the deliveries. Although the service reportedly declined to discuss the matter with WaPo in any detail, the Marshals Service for the Southern District of New York is understood to have sent out a cautionary memo to jurists in the area earlier in March. It confirmed that the anonymous deliveries did indeed appear to coincide with victims' involvement in legal proceedings against the federal government.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge says people are sending her pizzas in the name of her murdered son
(NewsNation) — A U.S. district judge says people are delivering pizzas to her home under the name of her son who was murdered in 2020. In an appearance on NBC News, Judge Esther Salas said she and some colleagues have received the pizzas following President Donald Trump's criticism of judicial members. In a 2022 interview on Fox News, Salas urged Congress to pass the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act — named after her son — which would boost security for federal judges and place restrictions on the distribution of federal judges' personal information. Maryland man's family questions death, says he didn't drown in Bahamas 'The fact of the matter is, I do have to say that the rule of law is not different for Republicans. The rule of law is not different for Democrats,' Salas told Fox host John Roberts. 'The rule of law is what this country has been founded on, and we as judges, our democracy, it mandates that we pass the Daniel Anderl bill and do it now. Enough is enough.' 'I think that members of Congress can see the escalation in the numbers of threats against judicial officers,' Salas said. 'It's just got to stop.' Salas has been outspoken about increasing protection for judges since the 2020 attack on her home — carried out by a man who described himself as an 'anti-feminist' — that killed her son and critically injured her husband. NewsNation affiliate The Hill contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
