Serious Threats Against Federal Judges, Prosecutors Spike over Last Several Years
There has been an alarming rise in serious threats against federal judges and prosecutors over the last three years. Data from the U.S. Marshals Service found that serious threats have more than doubled from 2021 until now.
The Marshals Service considers threats “serious” if they require an investigation. Four hundred and fifty-seven threats against federal judges required an investigation by the agency in fiscal year (FY) 2023. That is up from 300 in 2022, 224 in 2021, and just 179 in 2019.
Serious threats against federal prosecutors more than doubled from 68 in 2021 to 155 in 2023.
The Marshals Service oversee protection for 2,700 federal judges and more than 30,000 federal prosecutors and other court personnel.
Political Divisions
The Marshals Service attributes the spike to the nation’s stark political divisions, as the spike begins around the 2020 presidential election, where federal courts heard a number of highly politicized cases, including lawsuits by former President Donald Trump and his backers seeking to overturn the results.
Judges and prosecutors involved in the myriad of criminal and civil prosecutions of former President Trump have also reported receiving hundreds of threatening messages.
There were also reported threats from individuals upset by the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“The threat environment right now that is causing me concern is when people disagree with the judicial process or the government, and that turns into those verbal attacks,” Marshals Director Ronald Davis told Reuters. “And that is the beginning of the process that threatens the judiciary and threatens our democracy.”
Just weeks ago, Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke about the “deeply disturbing spike” in threats against federal workers and public servants, including federal judges, elected officials, election workers, FBI agents, members of the military, and others.
Concerns over Marshals’ “Blindspot”
Meanwhile, a recent Bloomberg article discussed a potential “blindspot” in the protection of federal judges by the U.S. Marshals Service.
According to the report, the U.S. Marshals Service tracking system does not allow officers to cross reference behavioral information and “spot suspicious activity that could connect cases.”
“There’s way more meaning in the data being collected than just a number and I think that’s the big miss,” former Marshals Service chief inspector John Muffler said.
And while the Marshals Service has been working to transition to a new operating system, limited funding and competing priorities have kept the Marshals Service from being able to complete that work, according to the article.
A Marshals Service spokesperson said that while the agency does not “discuss our specific security programs, we continuously review security measures that protect the judiciary and take appropriate action to provide additional protection when it is warranted.”