Judges Mull ‘Extraordinary Times’ Over Threats, Trump Era (1)

A panel of sitting federal judges said they’re trying to maintain normalcy in the face of the Trump administration’s possible defiance of court orders and heightened threats to their personal safety.

“We’re definitely seeing across the board an increase in judges discussing publicly contempt for not following the spirit of an order,” Judge Richard F. Boulware of the US District Court for the District of Nevada said at a legal conference in San Diego Thursday.

When his fellow panelist, Judge André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California, was asked about concerns that the executive branch would ignore a ruling from the Supreme Court or a lower court, he replied, “We’re in some extraordinary times. Things that I think we would have all thought are not an issue—we just don’t know. Is it a question? Sure.”

“You hope it doesn’t play out that way, but in the meantime we have to just keep doing what we’re doing, toe the line, make our decisions, and let the chips fall where they may,” Birotte added.

Addressing a large ballroom at the American Bar Association’s annual white collar gathering, the judges discussed a series of escalating risks—from the potential for violent attacks on their families to calls for their impeachment over rulings that are adverse to the administration.

The judges’ remarks drew a pointed response from the Justice Department, which complained of judicial partisanship.

“Extrajudicial commentary about the Executive Branch, based on nothing but innuendo, and designed to thrill a crowd and chill advocacy, only further demonstrates the judiciary’s descent into partisanship,” spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement Friday.

The Las Vegas-based Boulware said that when he said at this same conference last year that judges are in a “dark space” from rising threats—which made headlines—his family received an unsolicited pizza delivery order that same night. It was part of a national trend of implied threats apparently intended to convey that the sender knows where the judge lives.

His family opened the door and talked to the delivery person, “which was incredibly scary to me,” said Boulware, who also noted he testified last week at a sentencing for a woman who cyberstalked him and his family.

“I cannot tell you how chilling it is as a judge because you know when you leave the courthouse you’re exposed and your family is exposed,” he added.

The panel members all said that despite their alarm, they won’t be intimidated or allow it to affect their rulings. They still encouraged conference attendees and other members of the bar to speak out on their behalf to restore public trust in the judiciary.

“The marshals are doing all they can“ but “there needs to be more funding,” said US Circuit Court Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the Ninth Circuit. “We’re all left out there kind of naked once we leave the courthouse, and until the rhetoric comes down I think we’re going to continue to see the threats rise.”

When the conversation turned back to the Trump administration charging decisions, Judge Birotte said a recent phenomenon in Los Angeles has caused the bench to tweak its process.

“There’ve been six acquittals in these protest cases. I think judges are asking questions that they might not have otherwise asked before, pre trial, about what is the evidence,” he said, referring to the arrests of LA protesters charged last summer with obstructing law enforcement agents. “I think judges are asking more questions, but I don’t think it ultimately changes how they rule on cases.”

But lower courts are being reversed at “historic rates,” said Baldassarre, the DOJ spokeswoman, arguing that judges have ruled in “increasingly histrionic, hostile, and facially erroneous ways” against the Trump administration.

“The Department of Justice will continue to live up to its name by doing justice in the courts every day,” she said. “We invite the judiciary to do the same.”