Law enforcement officials warned federal judges that they are facing unusually high threat levels amid a series of attacks on the judiciary by Elon Musk and other allies of President Donald Trump.
Eleven judges from various districts told Reuters they were increasingly concerned about their physical security. Some reported receiving a rising number of death threats in recent weeks.
Several of the judges told the news agency that the U.S. Marshals Service has reached out, alerting them of heightened threat levels that have come as Musk has led a vicious campaign against members of the judiciary.
The tech billionaire—who leads a White House task force tasked with overseeing massive spending cuts—has made dozens of posts on his social media platform X since Trump took office in January attacking judges as “corrupt” and “evil.”
In one case, Musk called for the impeachment of a judge who temporarily restricted his team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Treasury systems.
Congressional Republicans and other Trump allies joined him in calling for the judge’s removal.
Last week, Musk went so far as to claim the United States does “NOT have democracy” before blasting the supposed “TYRANNY of the JUDICIARY.”
Musk’s DOGE efforts, meanwhile, have invited legal challenges. With his counsel, the Trump White House has moved to fire thousands of federal workers, shut down entire agencies, and frozen tens of billions of dollars in congressionally approved spending.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary in December that violence, intimidation, and threats were jeopardizing the crucial principle of judicial independence.
Citing U.S. Marshals data, he said threats and hostile communications directed at judges have tripled in the past decade, with more than 1,000 serious threats made against federal judges recorded in the last five years.
“In 2005 and 2020, close relatives of federal judges were shot to death by assailants intent on harming the judges who had handled their cases,” Roberts wrote. “More recently, in 2022 and 2023, state judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were murdered, also at their homes. Each instance constituted a targeted attack following an adverse ruling issued by the judge exercising ordinary judicial duties.”
“These tragic events highlight the vulnerability of judges who sign their names to the decisions they render each day and return home each night to communities, where they remain involved as neighbors, volunteers, and concerned citizens.”
Roberts also reserved space to criticize elected officials who have entertained “open disregard for federal court rulings,” writing: ”These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected."
