Judges seek greater security amid escalating threats
Judges are no strangers to controversy—especially when they rule in contentious cases. However, they could usually rest assured that, while they might be criticized, they would remain fairly unknown outside their legal communities.
Today, the judiciary grapples with a troubling reality: Ensuring justice while living in fear of retaliation. Consequently, judges are requesting additional financial support after a recent slew of attacks and threats against them and their families.
According to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, threats against judges have risen by 327% between May 2024 and March 2025.
For instance, earlier this year, Judge John Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington was the victim of a swatting attack in which police had to be sent to his home after he blocked the Trump administration’s directive to end birthright citizenship. Meanwhile, Nicholas John Roske pled guilty in April after traveling from California to the home of Brett M. Kavanaugh allegedly to kill the Justice.
“I’m very concerned about the current threats in terms of quantity and scope,” says Gabe Roth, Virginia-based executive director of Fix the Court, an advocacy group that seeks reform of the U.S. federal court system.
“Some 300 lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration this year, and when the administration loses any one of them, there’s a good chance the president, other administration officials or a roving band of online goons will attack the judge—either verbally or worse, as we know several judges have had pizzas delivered to their homes as a way of threatening them,” Roth says.
In March, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg faced online attacks and harassment after he blocked the White House’s attempt to use wartime powers to deport alleged gang members. The president posted on social media that the judge is a “radical left lunatic,” “a troublemaker and agitator,” who “should be impeached!!!” That led to others making similar posts on social media against the judge, including Trump ally Laura Loomer, who posted information about Boasberg’s daughter on X.
A 2024 survey by the National Judicial College found that out of 417 judge respondents, just over half reported poor mental health resulting from the threats and attacks.
Chief Justice John Roberts warned in his year-end report about an uptick in threats, and presented U.S. Marshals Service data illustrating that the judicial threats have more than tripled over the last decade. In the past 5 years, the report says, U.S. Marshals have investigated more than 1,000 serious threats against federal judges.
After President Donald Trump complained on social media about a judge’s ruling, Laura Loomer, a Trump supporter with 1.7 million followers on X, posted a photo of the jurist’s daughter and mischaracterized her work. Loomer is shown here at the Villages, a Florida retirement community. (Photo by Adam Gray/Abaca/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images)
To deal with the threats and past funding shortfalls, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts requested $9.4 billion for 2026, which is a 9.3% increase over 2025. They also asked for $892 million for court security, which is a 19% increase from the previous year.
The funds would be used for security infrastructure for new courthouse construction projects, U.S. Marshal Service staffing support and additional court security, according to the summary.
“This is not, ‘Well, should the Supreme Court spend $1 or $2 million on scaffolding to fix the pediment,’” Roth says.
He adds that if the administration loses a federal court case and the judge in the case is threatened, the president might direct the U.S. Marshals Service to withhold protection for the jurist. The U.S. Marshals service did not respond to a request for comment.
Paul Grimm, a retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and director of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School, says prior to social media, he used to receive nasty voicemail messages.
Today’s judicial threats are much more public, especially on social media, and millions of people see and amplify the vilifying language. Grimm also notes that there’s been many cases involving the White House.
“It has been brewing, but that combined with a lot of other efforts to undermine legitimacy across the board, you get a lowering of the public’s confidence,” Grimm says.
After watching colleagues receive death threats and bomb threats, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik says he’s been hesitant to make rulings, especially against the Trump administration or Trump.
“I wish the president and the people around him would moderate the rhetoric about judges being awful, that they should be impeached,” he says. “It feeds to the atmosphere that federal judges are the enemy.”
Has he been threatened yet? “I haven’t been, but if I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” Lasnik says.
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