Federal judges are reporting a significant increase in threats and harassment, leading many to implement new security measures including varied commutes, private security, and home fortifications with panic buttons, according to two recent studies.
These findings highlight a growing anxiety among the judiciary about their personal safety. One federal judge, speaking anonymously to study authors, admitted to considering altering a ruling to avoid potential retribution against their family. This sentiment underscores the intense pressure and fear some judges are experiencing.
The studies, conducted by legal scholars from New York University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Brennan Center for Justice, compile detailed testimony from dozens of federal judges. They depict a judicial system under considerable stress, exacerbated by a 57% increase in "security incidents of significant concern" in the year ending September 2025, with a continued upward trend projected for the current year, according to the U.S. court system's administrative agency.
"We are in a different era," stated Amrit Singh, lead author of one study and director of the Rule of Law Lab at New York University. "The volume, intensity, character and modalities of the threats that we are witnessing today are new."
Judges interviewed for the studies reported feeling overwhelmed, experiencing sleep disturbances, and installing security cameras and panic buttons. Concerns for family well-being were frequently cited.
One judge recounted having their home floor plans leaked and subsequently building a safe room after receiving over 700 threatening phone calls following a ruling on a Trump administration immigration case. The judge received these calls anonymously.
"Long term, there really is a danger to the rule of law from these threats," said Gowri Ramachandran, co-author of the second report and director of elections and security at the Brennan Center.
The NYU-Berkeley report is based on interviews with 32 active U.S. district and appellate judges, equally nominated by Democrats and Republicans, along with two active magistrate judges. The Brennan Center interviewed 35 sitting and retired federal judges, eight of whom were nominated by Republican presidents.
Both reports advocate for increased funding for judicial security and enhanced measures to protect judges' personal information. The NYU-Berkeley report additionally calls for more prosecutions of individuals making threats, noting a low number of such cases.
U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, who participated in interviews for both studies, expressed heightened concerns about judicial safety. She noted that repeated criticisms of judges by former President Donald Trump and his administration have made her more worried than in the aftermath of the 2020 attack at her home, where her son was killed and her husband wounded by an assailant posing as a deliveryman. Since that incident, many judges have been targeted with unsolicited food deliveries, sometimes made in the name of her son.
Salas fears that persistent negative rhetoric directed at the judicial branch, which she described as "under assault," could lead to public desensitization. "What Mark has been through and what our family has endured, I can’t describe with mere words," she said in a phone interview. "But what I can say is this: We know what is at stake."