By Emma Donahue, FTC law clerk

Fix the Court is endorsing the Stop the Doxx Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in May by Reps. Gottheimer, Bacon, Moskowitz, Stefanik, Gillen and Lawler.

The bill would make it a federal crime to knowingly publish or otherwise make available home addresses, personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses or other personally identifying information of federal, state, or local judges, law enforcement officers, prosecutors (i.e., the “covered public servants”) or their immediate family members with the intent to threaten, intimidate or facilitate violence against them.

It would also create a civil private right of action for covered public servants and their immediate family members, who could sue violators directly in federal district court to recover damages, attorney’s fees and injunctive relief. 

Additionally, the bill mandates that the Attorney General establish and make available a training program for covered public servants about how to better protect their personal information online, to be updated annually. 

Fix the Court is endorsing this bill for three reasons: 

1. Targeted harassment of judges and other public servants online by sharing their personal information has been getting worse. FTC has long advocated for increased security measures for judges, and this bill would help deter doxxing by making it a federal crime with a 10-year maximum for first offenders, plus the option for victims to sue the violators directly. 

2. The bill protects a wide range of public servants and their families, including federal, state and local judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers (see, e.g., the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2022, which only protects current and retired federal judges). 

3. The language of the criminal provision seems narrow enough to avoid major First Amendment concerns. A publisher of a covered public servant’s personal information would have to do so knowingly and with the specific intent to threaten, intimidate or facilitate violence in order to violate this law. Therefore, watchdog groups periodically publishing information about the unethical behavior of judges or government officials for the purpose of reform and civil discourse should be in the clear.

The text of the bill is available here.