Trumpism Threatens the Courts

Reuters had a powerful article entitled "Judges in Trump-related cases face unprecedented wave of threats."

Since Trump launched his first presidential campaign in June 2015, the average number of threats and hostile communications directed at judges, federal prosecutors, judicial staff, and court buildings has more than tripled, according to the Reuters review of data from the Marshals Service, which is responsible for protecting federal court personnel.

Judges have been subject to threats and violence. The shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords included the murder of a judge. Members of families of judges have been murdered. 

Someone showed up at Kavanaugh's house with a gun, a knife, and tactical gear. He was captured before doing anything, but that is no reason to handwave the threat. Congress in 2022 passed a law to help protect federal judges, including keeping certain personal information private. 

Like that old PSA, there is an "I learned it from you" feel here:

Many of the threats against judges examined by Reuters echo Trump’s statements in social media posts and speeches, where he has attacked judges as “totally biased,” “crooked,” “partisan” and “hostile,” dismissed courts as “rigged” and called prosecutors “corrupt.” Threatening messages on pro-Trump online forums often repeat those terms or cast the former president as a heroic figure besieged by corrupt judges in secret “Democrat” plots.

The problems apply to both federal and state courts:

Arizona’s Maricopa County, an epicenter of unfounded election conspiracy theories, logged more than 400 cases of threats and harassment targeting judges, their staff and the courts between 2020 and 2023, according to previously unpublished county data reviewed by Reuters. Maricopa officials didn’t track threats until noticing a spike in 2020, a county official said.

This so-called (to cite Trump's side) "political speech" has encouraged multiple types of threats. "Doxxing" is the release of private information. "Swatting" is when someone makes a false call to the police regarding the need for emergency services.  There are also threatening phone calls. The threats are to judges and members of their families.  

Over the last four years, the Marshals investigated more than 1,200 threats against federal judges that they considered serious, according to the data provided to Reuters. Among the 57 federal prosecutions Reuters identified during that period, 47 involved threats against federal judges, six involved threats against state judges, and four involved threats against both. There is no national data on state-level prosecutions for threats against judges.

Nonetheless, in a vast number of cases, no charges are brought. Warnings are also given by judges in the Trump civil and criminal cases. He once had sanctions applied. It hasn't changed his basic behavior. 

When Harrison Floyd, one of the Georgia defendants, tagged people he was directly told not to contact, he just received a warning. His bond was not revoked. The rules were "clarified" so he (like Trump has) can know just how he can skirt the line. 

Judge Reggie Walton, whose daughter was also targeted, is named in the article. He went on CNN -- it is a novel thing for a sitting judge to do this -- to speak out:

We do these jobs because we’re committed to the rule of law & we believe in the rule of law & the rule of law can only function effectively when we have judges who are prepared to carry out their duties without the threat of potential physical harm.

A partial gag order has been applied to the New York criminal case. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg argued the judge “should make abundantly clear that the [gag order] protects family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order.”

Trump has already gone after the judge's daughter, including with his usual disrespect of the actual facts:

Trump on Wednesday also went after Loren Merchan, pointing to an account on X, which was formerly known as Twitter, that he said belonged to her, which showed an image of Trump behind bars. However, the court later released a statement saying that the account did not belong to Merchan, but rather someone else.

As the Talking Points Memo summary linked above notes:

This is, of course, only the latest in a months’ long series of Trump attacks on judges, court workers, prosecutors, witnesses, and others, with full awareness of the risk of inciting further threats and potential violence.

I have seen multiple concerned liberal types lecture people upset at how so little is done to address Trump's (and in some cases, other people's) comments of this nature. They are hysterical on social media. They disrespect freedom of speech. They do not respect the rights of defendants. They do not understand how the criminal justice system works. 

As a former federal judge noted last night on MSNBC (Melissa Murray and Andrew Weismann had a special regarding the Trump trials), this basic sentiment is bogus. Trump is again and again getting special treatment. People in regular trials who have said and done things he has done would have their bond revoked. At the very least, concerned liberal types should grant that Trump and company are playing a dangerous game.  

Judge Luttig, who strongly argued that the Supreme Court "dangerously betrayed" democracy in the 14th Amendment case, reacted to Judge Walton's [a Bush41 appointee] appearance on Twitter:

It is a regrettable commentary on our times that a lone federal judge, The Honorable Judge Reggie B. Walton -- because no one whose responsibility it is to do so has had the courage and the will -- would finally be left no choice but, himself, to express on national television.

That is a bit harsh. Others have spoken out. Nonetheless, the sentiment has bite. I think my recent comments about the Magni nomination are part of this. The bullshit* and lies aid and abet Trumpian hatreds and threats. Do you not think that the campaign against the Muslim-nominated judge succeeding will not benefit the same overall poison involved here?

This is the Republican nominee for president. Republicans control the House. We still have to worry about a "trifecta" of these people, who simply do not care about how their candidate is threatening the integrity of the courts. If they truly cared, would they support Donald Trump? 

The "Trump Trials" link provides details about celebrities who read from the Trump indictments. Shades of celebrities who read from the Mueller Report. The report included a list of possible criminal allegations against Trump. I will end with the upcoming trial since this is what -- as Judge Walton noted -- we need to focus on (equal justice):

"On the hush money payments, the defendant, Donald J. Trump, repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election," Close reads from the indictment.

Keep your eye on the ball.

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* As Laura Penny wrote in her useful book on the subject:

"Bullshit distracts with exaggeration, omission, obfuscation, stock phrases, pretentious jargon, faux-folksiness, feigned ignorance, and sloganeering homilies."

Bullshit involves people who do not care about the truth. They might not directly lie. Nonetheless, the result is largely the same.