By Manny Marotta

Speak Up for Justice, an initiative started last year by L.A.-based attorney Paul Kiesel, convened a panel of active federal judges yesterday (right) to discuss recent threats against them and how lawmakers and the judiciary can respond. This followed comments from Chief Justice Roberts Wednesday at Rice University, in which he said that “hostility” against judges is “now more directed in a personal way, and that can actually be quite dangerous.”

The impetus for the event was last month’s release of Advisory Opinion 118, which gives federal judges more runway to speak out against illegitimate forms of criticism, such as threats, without running afoul of the Code of Conduct. Yesterday’s panel included Judges Beth Bloom (S.D. Florida), Ana Reyes (D.D.C.), Mark Norris (W.D. Tennessee) and Dolly Gee and Michelle Williams Court (both C.D. California).

Judge Bloom opened the discussion by reviewing past instances in which federal judges have been swatted, doxxed and threatened. “This presents a strong case for why engagement is not only appropriate, but is necessary,” she said, before introducing Judge Norris, who suffered “pizza doxxing” — having pizzas delivered to his home to signal that perpetrators knew his address.

“Threats of various kinds […] have become the order of the day,” Judge Norris noted. “Disparaging the institutions of government has become quotidian, it’s a daily affair.” He went on to express appreciation for the new advisory opinion.

Judge Court spoke next; she had received threats from individuals who claimed that they knew where she lived and where her children go to school. “I don’t think that society at-large understands that judges are focused […] on the papers and the facts and the law,” she said. “And that’s a very dangerous place to be, because it’s very unpredictable [and] it’s very difficult to defend against.”

Judge Reyes said she had received “countless” lewd and aggressive threats after issuing an opinion in a high-profile immigration case in January. “The extraordinary has become ordinary,” she said. “Every judge who issues a high-profile opinion […] gets emails and threats like this constantly.”

Finally, Chief Judge Gee, who has long worked to educate both the public about civic responsibility, spoke about the threats that she has received. “I think that social media has been an accelerant,” she said, highlighting a threat in which the sender noted how easy it was to find her personal details on the Internet.

Throughout, the judges and moderators discussed steps that can be taken to improve judicial security and educate the public about threats to judges in the future.

We continue to be interested and involved in this space, and we are looking forward to the next Speak Up for Justice event in April.