A new Brennan Center report and recent judicial statements document rising threats, harassment, and intimidation against federal judges — and call for concrete responses from the legal community and government agencies.
Threat incidents against federal judges rose sharply: U.S. Marshals Service data show a 57% increase for judges in FY2025 and a continued rise in FY2026.
Supreme Court justices faced growing threats: Supreme Court Police projected a 38% increase in threats in 2026 after a 25% rise in 2025.
The Brennan Center recommends five practical steps for the legal community to protect judges, including advocacy for security funding and public defenses of the judiciary.
Federal judges today operate in an increasingly hostile landscape of threats, harassment, and intimidation. Chief Justice John Roberts dedicated part of his 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary to the danger of violence directed at judges. According to the federal judiciary's fiscal year 2027 congressional budget summary, published in March 2026, "security incidents of significant concern," as reported by the U.S.
Protecting Judges and the Rule of Law • TaxProf Blog Protecting Judges and the Rule of Law • TaxProf Blog Protecting Judges and the Rule of Law Austen Parrish September 23, 2026 Legal Education The Brennan Center has a new report around threats to judges: Two years later, the threats persist and are growing in number. He also serves as co-editor of the Journal of Legal Education.
One judge had to build a safe room at home. Others were so scared they wouldn’t let their children play outside; another stopped grocery shopping and couldn’t attend his grandchild’s recital because of a 24/7 security detail. “I can’t leave my house at the same time or take the same routes” every day, the one […]
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“It’s the rule of law. If you don’t have it, you have either anarchy or you have authoritarianism. You have Russia or you have China or you have North Korea.”
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