In an exclusive report published by Reuters, serious threats to United States Federal Judges have more than doubled in the past three years according to data from the United States Marshals Service.
A member of the far-right extremist group, Proud Boys, was sentenced to six years in prison after insulting the judge durin a hearing.
The Marshals Service is responsible for the safety of 2,700 Federal Judges, 30,000 Federal Prosecutors as well as court personnel. The sharp rise in these threats has been linked to the ever-growing political divide within the country according to Marshals Director Ronald Davis who spoke with Reuters in an interview.
The Rise In Numbers
The service categorizes serious threats as threats that would trigger an investigation by an agency. According to the data by the end of the 2023 fiscal year threats to Federal Judges rose to 457 from 224 in 2021's fiscal year. There was also a rise in threats to Federal Prosecutors which went up from 68 in 2021 to 155 in 2023. The time of these threats spans a period that began in 2020 around the most recent Presidential Election during this time courts were hearing what were described as highly political cases which include the lawsuits filed by former President Donald Trump in his previous attempt to overturn the recent Presidential election. Reuters has also documented a tirade of threats from Trump's supporters towards election officials. However, a spokesperson for the former President did not provide a comment. There have also been threats from activists who were enraged by the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn the legal right to abortion.
According to the report, Davis the agency has a "Growing concern" about the spike in threats fueled by partisan divisions and seemingly venomous language on social platforms. Davis is to testify on Wednesday at a United States House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee oversight hearing. Each year the Marshal's Service reviews hundreds upon thousands of threats and has been launching what has been described as "Protective investigations" on the ones it considers the most dangerous. However, they did not provide details on the threats themselves.
The Justice Department was asked to provide the number of individuals charged or convicted for the threats they simply said that they do not track the data. Davis also pointed out that while usually threats are put out because of how an individual's case turned out, the threats are now coming from people who are enraged with politics. In the interview, Davis said the following "The threat environment right now that is causing me concern is when people disagree with the judicial process or the government, and that turns into those verbal attacks. And that is the beginning of the process that threatens the judiciary and threatens our democracy."
It would seem that in the wake of more cases against the former President, including one regarding the former President's eligibility to run for re-election, continue to rise more Judges might end up facing threats that could lead to further escalation however, the outcome of those cases has not been determined.
