Judge Decries Executive Branch’s Personal Attacks on Judiciary

A veteran Washington federal judge condemned verbal attacks on the judiciary by members of Congress and executive branch leaders, warning the rhetoric undermines the courts’ independence.

“Congress and the executive are engaged in many more assaults on the judiciary and on individual judges,” Senior Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said Thursday at a conference in Hershey, Pa. “They’re more frequent. I think they’re more pointed. And they’re more personal than they’ve been in the past.”

And he described a “purpose” behind the “threats and personal criticisms coming from the executive branch.”

“The purpose, I think, is to diminish or destroy that trust in the judiciary, and in the rule of law, and thereby to pressure judges to rule for the administration, which is undermining judicial independence,” Bates said.

The George W. Bush appointee also lamented what he saw as increasing polarization within the judiciary itself, calling judges “a very politically polarized group.” And he said there were fewer examples 10 or 20 years ago of judges waiting to retire until they were comfortable with their replacement, or which president would appoint their successor.

“Part of the reason for that is there aren’t many judges anymore between the 40-yard lines. They’re all at one end of the field or the other,” Bates said. “That’s the way things have evolved. That’s not ideal. I’m really sad that that’s where we are.”

Bates’ remarks are the latest example where sitting federal judges—typically hesitant to speak publicly—have condemned what they see as rising verbal attacks on the judiciary that harm the institution. They also represent a stark assessment of the state of the courts from a prominent judiciary leader, who has spent decades on the bench.

Bates has held multiple leadership roles within the judiciary, including as director of its administrative office and chair of a key rulemaking committee for the judiciary’s policy arm.

Bates didn’t name President Donald Trump directly in his remarks, made during a panel on judicial independence at the Third Circuit’s annual conference. But he called out attacks by “leaders of the executive branch,” including comments made last year by Todd Blanche, currently the acting attorney general, that the Trump administration is at “war” with the federal judiciary.

He also referenced an effort to paint judges as criminals, an apparent reference to Trump calling judges “criminals” during a March speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner.

And he cited Republican lawmakers’ attempts to impeach federal judges over decisions they disliked, as well as the Justice Department’s request, reported by Bloomberg Law in February, to US attorneys for information supporting impeachment efforts.

Bates acknowledged he was one of the judges who appeared on a “Wanted” poster on Capitol Hill, after Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn) filed a resolution of impeachment against him following his ruling against the Trump administration in a public health case.

He said he “will note only this” about the case that drew the impeachment resolution: of all his rulings against the Trump administration in the case at issue, “none were appealed.”

Senior Judge D. Brooks Smith of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who spoke on the panel, also criticized Republican lawmakers’ impeachment resolutions over judicial decisions and congressional hearings on how to rein in “rogue judges.”

“Suggesting impeachment in those circumstances seems to me the triumph of an uninformed populism over constitutionalism, the latter of which simply has to guide us all,” Smith said.

DOJ has previously pushed back on judges’ remarks about pressures on the judiciary during the Trump administration. Spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre in March complained of the “judiciary’s descent into partisanship” when another federal judge discussed rising threats at a conference.

Speaking Out

Judges have increasingly turned to public forums to defend the judiciary after threats and other attacks.

Senior Judge Reggie Walton in Washington took the rare step of giving a television interview in 2024, on CNN, decrying the rise of threats against federal judges and their families.

Justice Neil Gorsuch also addressed rising threats in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, telling the network that “violence is never the answer.”

Bates encouraged other judges to speak publicly, albeit with caution, about judicial security and independence, following an advisory opinion earlier this year clarifying that judges may discuss the role of courts and related topics.

“Personally I believe it’s important to hear the voices of judges on these issues,” Bates said.

Threats against federal judges and other public officials have heightened in recent years. The US Marshals Service, the Justice Department agency that protects the federal judiciary, logged 564 threats against judges last fiscal year, up from 509 the year prior.

The agency has recorded 292 threats so far this fiscal year, which began in October, according to latest data.

Federal judges have also reported receiving unsolicited pizza deliveries to their homes, a signal that the sender knows the judge’s home address. Some have been sent in the name of Daniel Anderl, a New Jersey federal judge’s son who was murdered in 2020 by a disgruntled attorney posing as a delivery driver.