Federal Judges Under Fire - Threats, "Pizza Doxings," and a President Pouring Oil on the Flames

In the summer of 2020, a gruesome crime shook the American judiciary: a frustrated litigant, posing as a delivery driver, opened fire in front of the home of federal judge Esther Salas in New Jersey and killed her 20-year-old son, Daniel Anderl. Five years later, as President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on federal judges who block his policies, the judiciary is experiencing a new wave of intimidation - subtle and insidious. Dozens of judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries to their home addresses, often in the name of Daniel Anderl. The message is clear: We know where you live.

One of those affected is John J. McConnell Jr., a federal judge in Rhode Island who blocked Trump’s first across-the-board spending cuts. He not only received pizzas in Anderl’s name but also a flood of threatening calls. One of them, laced with obscenities and an open call for his murder, was publicly played by him - during an unusual discussion on Thursday in which several federal judges spoke about the growing threats. Such open conversations are rare because traditionally, judges only speak through their rulings or from the bench. Salas and others reported that the number of attacks has increased dramatically in recent months. Without naming Trump, Salas urged him and his allies to stop the incitement and stop demonizing the judiciary. “We are used to people filing appeals. But stick to the legal arguments, stop demonizing us,” she said. “You are inviting people to harm us.” At https://kaizen-blog.org/en/trumps-netzwerke-auf-truth-social-und-einschuechterung-der-justiz-und-verbreitung-von-fake-news-2025/ we had already reported extensively on parts of these networks. Our research is the only one of its kind and shows how Trump systematically amplifies extremist content on Truth Social, actively fueling the intimidation of judges.

The Thursday event was organized by “Speak up for Justice,” a bipartisan initiative supporting an independent judiciary. John C. Coughenour, a federal judge in Washington state, recalled that a SWAT team was once sent to his home - due to a false report of an alleged attack - after he blocked Trump’s January decree to abolish birthright citizenship for children of people without legal status. Robert S. Lasnik, also a judge in Washington, not only received pizza deliveries in Anderl’s name himself, but so did his two adult children in different cities. Shortly before, a TV station in the Northwest had aired an interview in which he criticized attacks on judges. “The message was: We know where you live, we know where your children live, and they could end up like Daniel Anderl,” Lasnik said in an interview. Salas stated that the U.S. Marshals had now reported to her more than 100 cases of such “pizza doxings,” most of them in 2025. Additional attacks on judges in states from Colorado to Florida are not even included in the Marshals’ statistics because they are only responsible for the protection of federal judges. “This is not a harmless prank, this is a targeted, coordinated attack on judges,” Salas said, “and we are not hearing a single condemnation from Washington.” Salas, appointed by Barack Obama, also recalled that she had criticized the 2022 protests in front of conservative Supreme Court justices’ homes after they struck down the right to abortion - a protest that ended with the arrest of a man who showed up at Brett Kavanaugh’s house and admitted he intended to kill him. Today, Salas said, both political camps have used problematic rhetoric, but since Trump took office, the escalation has reached a new peak. “I often call it a campfire on which the current administration is pouring accelerant,” she said.

Trump himself regularly goes after judges personally and attacks them on social media, by name and without restraint. Anyone who rules against him is “sick,” “dangerous,” or a “lunatic.” The president’s allies amplify the messages, calling for impeachments or for simply ignoring court rulings. This year, a “Wanted” poster with the faces of judges who had defied Trump even hung outside the office of Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee. Judge Lasnik said that many colleagues - regardless of which president appointed them - now feel deep concern but hardly dare to speak out publicly. “Many do not know how to speak out and are afraid of ending up with a complaint like Judge Boasberg,” Lasnik said, referring to James E. Boasberg of Washington, D.C., who angered the Trump administration when he accused it of potential criminal disobedience for ignoring his order to reverse a deportation flight to El Salvador. Although Chief Justice John Roberts publicly defended Boasberg, Trump’s Justice Department filed a complaint against him this week because he had said at a judicial conference that some colleagues feared the government might not comply with their rulings in the future. Last month, the Justice Department even went so far as to sue all federal judges in Maryland over rules for handling immigration cases. More than five dozen judges who have ruled against Trump now receive enhanced online protection: their personal data are removed from websites after two Trump-appointed judges asked Congress for more funding for judicial security. Already in 2022, Congress had passed a law named after Daniel Anderl that allows judges to sue websites that publish their addresses. This report shows a judiciary under pressure, as a president and his allies continue to stoke the fire - and the danger grows that words will one day turn into blood again.

Investigative journalism requires courage, conviction – and your support.