Federal marshals have warned federal judges of unusually high threat levels as tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump administration allies ramp up efforts to discredit judges who stand in the way of White House efforts to slash federal jobs and programs, The Guardian reports.
Musk, congressional Republicans and other top allies of President Trump have called for the impeachment of some federal judges or attacked their integrity in response to court rulings that have slowed the Trump administration’s moves to dismantle entire agencies and fire tens of thousands of workers.
Musk has lambasted judges in more than 30 posts since the end of January on his social media site X, calling them “corrupt,” “radical,” “evil” and deriding the “TYRANNY of the JUDICIARY” after judges blocked parts of the federal downsizing that he’s led. The Tesla CEO has reposted nearly two dozen tweets by others attacking judges.
Reuters interviews with 11 federal judges in several areas found mounting alarm over their physical security and, in some cases, a rise in violent threats in recent weeks. The U.S. Marshals Service declined to comment on security matters.
As Reuters documented in a series last year, political pressure on federal judges and violent threats against them have been rising since the 2020 presidential election, when federal courts heard a series of highly politicized cases, including failed lawsuits filed by Trump and his backers seeking to overturn his loss.
Rhetorical attacks on judges and the rise in threats jeopardize the judicial independence that underpins America’s democratic constitutional order, say legal experts.
Chief Justice John Roberts, in his year-end report, warned about a rising number of threats to the judiciary’s independence, including calls for violence against judges and “dangerous” suggestions by elected officials to disregard court rulings they disagree with.
Several judges said the Marshals Service, which provides judicial security, has informed them of a heightened threat environment over the past several weeks, either verbally or in writing. The Marshals also discussed security measures, the judges said, including regular searches for threatening posts online.
Two New York federal judges – Paul Engelmayer and Jeannette Vargas – are receiving extra security after their rulings blocked staff from Musk’s “department of government efficiency” from accessing sensitive treasury department data.
Several federal judges in the Washington, D.C. area, received pizzas sent anonymously to their homes, which is being interpreted by law enforcement as a form of intimidation meant to convey that a target’s address is known.