Removing Judges’ Personal Information from Web in Funding Bill

A provision in government funding legislation would strengthen a program allowing the judiciary to help judges and their family members address security concerns by removing personal information from the internet.

The measure buried in a $1.5 trillion spending package for the current fiscal year approved by the Senate on Thursday comes with judicial security legislation stalled on Capitol Hill and judges facing increasing threats.

The omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2471) that was approved by the House earlier in the week authorizes $705 million in funding for judicial security through the end of September. That includes money for courthouse security systems and equipment. The security appropriation is $41 million more than what the judiciary received last fiscal year.

Some of the new money would go to a program aimed at “identifying and pursuing the voluntary redaction and reduction of personally identifiable information on the internet of judges and other familial relatives who live at the judge’s domicile.”

The security initiative started last fall with money the judiciary had on hand. The proposal now before Congress would formalize it, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said. The appropriations bill would also give the administrative office staff authority to assist in removing judges’ personally identifiable information online, the spokesman said.

The move comes amid safety concerns raised by the judiciary and the U.S. Marshals Service after a federal judge’s son was murdered at their family home in New Jersey in 2020 by a disgruntled attorney. The Marshals Service, which provides security for federal courts, has reported rising threats and inappropriate communications toward federal judges and other judiciary personnel. That trend continued last year.

Removal of judges’ personal information online is also the aim of another bill pending in Congress, the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2021 (H.R. 4436; S. 2340). That legislation named for the slain judge’s son would provide the judiciary with “broader permanent authority” on removal of the information, said an aide for Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee covering the courts.

The judicial security bill would prohibit data brokers from knowingly selling, trading, licensing purchase, or providing judges’ personally identifiable information, such as home addresses. The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced that measure to the floor in December. There hasn’t been action since then.

A spokesman for the courts’ office said the current funding proposal is only temporary and passage of the full security legislation remains critical. The security bill “provides permanent authority for this program and the activities and resources needed to provide the appropriate level of security for the Judiciary,” the spokesman said.