Threats to Federal Judges Surge Under Trump's Second Term, Raising Safety and Judicial Independence Concerns

In returning Donald Trump to the White House, MAGA faithful wanted to see change.

The president-elect was keen to oblige.

"Starting tomorrow, I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country," Mr Trump said the day before his inauguration.

As it turned out, many policies laid out in pursuit of that order faced legal challenges, with more than 850 lawsuits reportedly filed against the second Trump administration.

And for the judges presiding over these cases, some say it has made their jobs more dangerous.

Safe rooms and unsolicited pizzas

After hearing a case related to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, a federal judge said they received more than 700 threatening phone calls, which led to their child's school ramping up active shooter training.

When their home's floor plan was shared online, they built a safe room and drilled their family on how they would respond to an intruder.

That's not an isolated feeling, either.

Threats to federal judges have escalated to unprecedented levels under Mr Trump's second term, according to a new report based on interviews with 35 sitting and retired jurists appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents as far back as Ronald Reagan.

While threats against the judiciary are not new, every sitting and retired judge interviewed for the report by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, said the dangers were more serious today than in the past.

The US Marshals Service (USMS), the agency responsible for federal judges' security, recorded a 57 per cent increase in security incidents of significant concern in the 2025 fiscal year.

The agency forecasts the number is on pace to rise again in the 2026 fiscal year, but declined to provide the raw figures when contacted by the ABC.

Similarly, USMS figures show threats recorded during protective investigations — a separate metric — increased by 10 per cent during the 2025 fiscal year.

Nearly all 17 judges currently serving told the Brennan Center they were concerned about the safety of their family members.

"We sign up for this. We are public servants," Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida said during an interview for the report.

An article published by Reuters in 2025 documented how an emerging pattern of "pizza doxxing" exploited this fear to maximise intimidation.

The practice sees antagonists have unsolicited pizzas delivered to judges' homes to signal that their addresses are known, and that they are being watched.

Often, the deliveries arrive in the name of Daniel Anderl, who was fatally gunned down by someone attempting to assassinate his mother, New Jersey District Judge Esther Salas.

Some judges also described paying out of pocket for additional security for their families.

"You stop doing things," said one district judge who lived with round-the-clock federal law enforcement protection for several months.

Why judges think threats are increasing

While the causes of the heightened threat environment were complex, the judges repeatedly identified three key factors that contributed to the issue.

They cited the political climate, echoing comments by then-USMS director Ronald Davis in 2024.

"In the past, judges mostly faced threats from people who were upset about a judge's decision in their own cases," he said, but many more were now coming from "people enraged because of politics".

Threatening independence

Persistent threats and harassment risk undermining the independence of the judicial system, the report said.

When asked if specific types of cases were more of a risk, the majority of sitting judges interviewed pointed to cases involving the Trump administration, given the intense public attention and political polarisation.

"People are aware the administration is going to use whatever potential tools [it] can to come down on judges and try to whip judges into line," a sitting district judge said.

"I think the president is trying to stress test the judiciary," a retired judge said.

Some jurists referenced the arrest and federal prosecution of Judge Hannah Dugan, who was found guilty in December of obstructing an immigration arrest outside her courtroom, and later sentenced to pay a $5,000 fine.

A sitting appellate judge said the arrest was an example of the Trump administration weaponising federal law enforcement against judges.

Another district judge acknowledged they had felt pressure to make rulings in a certain direction.

While nearly every interviewee was confident that threats had not influenced any rulings, many were worried judges would not be willing to accept associated risks in the future.

"It never occurred to me that this was something we'd be facing," a sitting judge who chose to remain anonymous said.

"If this gets too bad, I'm going to stop."

A retired judge said the increasing incidents reinforced their decision to retire, adding: "I don't want to live that way."

Some jurists noted this particularly risked exacerbating under-representation of judges with diverse identities, who they observed were subject to more harassment.

"I have been talking to women and Black judges … I think the vitriol and intensity is much greater for them than white male judges," a male jurist said.