Federal Judges Organize Unprecedented Defense of Judicial Independence Against 2025 Threats

On Mar. 6, 2025, the Federal Judges Association—representing over 1,100 sitting federal judges—issued an unprecedented public statement condemning attacks and threats against the federal judiciary. The statement emphasized that "the security of federal judges is fundamental to their ability to uphold the rule of law" and warned that any erosion of judicial independence threatens the Constitution and democratic rule of law. This marked the first time in modern history that sitting judges collectively organized a public defense of court authority.

The wave of threats began in late Feb. and early Mar. 2025 after federal judges blocked Trump administration policies on immigration enforcement and the Alien Enemies Act. President Trump attacked U.S. District JJJudge James Boasberg on Truth Social, calling for his impeachment after Boasberg temporarily blocked the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport noncitizens without due process. Elon Musk amplified attacks on social media, and Trump posted on Memorial Day 2025 about "USA HATING JUDGES" calling them "MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL."

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued a rare public rebuke in Mar. 2025, stating, "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision." On May 7, 2025, Roberts spoke in Buffalo and reiterated that "impeachment is not how you register disagreement with decisions," describing judicial independence as "central" to the constitutional structure. Roberts identified four threats to judicial independence: violence, intimidation, disinformation, and threats to defy lawfully entered judgments.

The U.S. Marshals Service investigated 373 separate threats to federal judges in the first five months of 2025 (Jan. through May), compared with 509 probes for all of 2024. These 373 threats targeted 277 individual judges, with some judges threatened multiple times. The Marshals Service tracked 807 total threats and inappropriate communications against protected persons in fiscal year 2025, representing a 327% increase in violent threats and impeachment calls between May 2024 and Mar. 2025 according to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

JEJudge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court for the District of 🏖️New Jersey testified about escalating harassment, including anonymous pizza deliveries to judges' homes—at least 20 pizzas sent in her murdered son's name. In 2020, a dissatisfied lawyer posed as a delivery driver and murdered Salas's 20-year-old son Daniel at their home. The pizza-bombing campaign beginning in Feb. 2025 sent hundreds of pizzas to judges and their families' residences to signal that extreme Trump supporters know where judges live, creating "stomach-churning" intimidation according to Salas.

On May 1, 2025, twenty retired federal judges launched the Article III Coalition through the civic organization Keep Our Republic. Coalition co-founders include PRPaul R. Michel (retired U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) and AKAllyson K. Duncan (retired Fourth Circuit judge and past president of the Federal Judges Association). The coalition pledged to "keep our Republic, but to strengthen it. To defend the rule of law. To protect the independence of the judiciary" through public education, town halls, and media engagement that sitting judges cannot ethically undertake.

The National Judicial College joined with leading judicial organizations on May 19, 2025, to issue a joint statement supporting judicial independence. The statement strongly reaffirmed that "judges must be free to decide cases in accordance with the law and the Constitution—without fear of retaliation, intimidation or threats of violence." The joint statement endorsed Chief Justice Roberts' remarks and emphasized that threats and acts of violence directed at judges and their families are unacceptable.

Congress approved an 18.9% increase in federal judiciary security funding for fiscal year 2026, from $750 million to $892 million, in response to escalating threats. The bipartisan proposal allocated $240 million to U.S. Marshals Service protective staffing, $120 million to upgrade courthouse cameras and access controls, and $60 million to create digital privacy shields for judges' personal data. The funding increase came amid concerns that Trump administration deployments of Marshals for immigration enforcement worsened staffing shortages protecting judges.

Multiple judges testified to Congress about severe security gaps in federal courthouses: outdated or nonfunctioning security cameras leaving blind spots in buildings, broken key card systems, malfunctioning parking lot gates, and inadequate screening equipment. At the Mar. 2025 Judicial Conference meeting, judges discussed the unprecedented possibility of managing their own armed security force due to concerns that the U.S. Marshals Service could not adequately protect them while also conducting immigration enforcement operations.

Attorney PKPaul Kiesel founded the "Speak Up For Justice" forum series in early 2025, convening periodic meetings where judges, including Judge Salas, addressed judicial safety and threats to independence. The forums provided a platform for judges to speak publicly about mounting dangers while maintaining ethical boundaries. Judge Salas warned at an Apr. 2025 forum, "The numbers tell a story that it's not getting better; it's getting worse." The Federal Judges Association held a webinar on Mar. 11, 2025, discussing threats to the rule of law, public confidence in the judiciary, and how judges can uphold institutional integrity under unprecedented political attacks.