The US House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance recently held a hearing with US Marshals Service Director Ronald Davis concerning the agency’s response to an alarming rise in threats against federal judges. Davis had earlier revealed to Reuters that threats against federal judges have surged across the country over the past year, a situation he attributed to “politically driven violence”.
The US Marshals Service data provided to Reuters indicated a spike in serious threats against judges from 224 in fiscal year 2021, to 457 in fiscal year 2023. In Davis’ viewpoint, social media and politicization have contributed to this rise. He expressed concern over instances where disagreements with the judicial process or government trigger verbal attacks, stating “that is the beginning of the process that threatens the judiciary and threatens our democracy”.
The hearing also touched on the enforcement of the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act aimed at judges’ privacy protection and violence prevention. Congressman Andy Biggs, chairman of the subcommittee, criticised the US Marshals’ performance in enforcing this act, despite its enactment. His criticism came in the backdrop of US Attorney General Merrick Garland’s alleged direction to the Marshals to “avoid arresting protestors” at the residences of several Supreme Court Justices following a leaked document detailing the proposed ruling in the landmark abortion rights case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
Addressing Garland’s purported order, Davis testified that he had not received any such directive from Garland, besides his instructions to protect the justices and their families. Davis emphasized that he received no order from the Attorney General to specifically avoid any arrest. Instead, the emphasis was to ensure no activity compromised the safety of the justices.
The hearing coincided with an increase in reported threats against federal, state and local judges nationwide, evidenced by a series of disturbing incidents over the past years, including violent and antisemitic threats faced by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, as well as violent threats against the Colorado Supreme Court triggering an FBI investigation.
Additional information can be found in the full article from the JURIST.