Four sitting federal judges went on the record March 19 to describe the death threats, doxing, and intimidation they’ve faced on the bench.
During an online forum hosted by Speak Up for Justice, a nonpartisan grassroots organization founded to defend the rule of law and judicial independence, Chief Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California, the first Chinese American woman to serve as a federal Article III judge, was joined by Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams Court of the Central District of Cali-fornia; and Judge Mark S. Norris of Tennessee.
Until recently, district court judges have traditionally spoken through their decisions, not in the public arena. But the situation has become so dire that — in rebuke of the Trump Administration’s “war’’ on judges who issue opinions the president disagrees with — the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Codes of Con-duct Committee issued an advisory opinion last month that frees federal judges to speak publicly about increasing threats to themselves and the judiciary.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has publicly warned that personally directed attacks on judges are “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”
The Los Angeles County Bar Association issued a formal statement condemning Trump’s personal at-tacks on Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch by name, calling the behavior something that “cannot be normalized.”
Titled “The Bench Breaks Its Silence,” the forum was convened as a direct response to that moment, moderated by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom and Paul Kiesel, a Los Angeles plaintiff’s attorney and founder of Speak Up for Justice.
“I don’t think being a federal judge is a job for the fainthearted… What I probably did not expect to quite this degree is the level of vitriol and the types of violent threats that have come across my desk over the years,” said Gee, who was nominated to the court by President Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the Senate.
“Here’s one that resulted in an indictment against the person who sent the message: ‘You’re dead, or I’ll put a bullet in your head in the middle of your kitchen without you seeing it coming, or expecting it. Casket coming soon. Don’t go home. You’ll never know when I’ll pop up. I’ll guarantee, I will kill you. Think I’m playing? Casket dreams, sweetheart.’”
Last year, Gee shot down an attempt by the Trump Administration to disregard the Flores Settlement Agreement, which calls for court-mandated oversight on the treatment of immigrant children in federal custody. According to Law & Crime, Gee issued a 20-page order keeping the 1997 agreement in place, saying that Justice Department lawyers “fail to identify any new facts or law” that warrant its termination.
Gee remarked during the forum that social media “has been an accelerant that has caused amplification of some of these types of force words that we receive. And here’s one that’s an example: ‘Isn’t the Internet an amazing invention? I know who you are, what you look like, where you work, where you live, and what you drive. So, I think I’ll pay you a visit soon. What do you think will happen then? Trust me, it will be the worst day in your life. See you soon.’”
“The judiciary, unlike the other two branches, we take an oath of impartiality,” she noted. “So even if you don’t have a case in court, our decisions will often impact not just local communities, but sometimes the entire state, and at times the entire nation.
“I think that the name of this program speaks for itself, which is: speak up. I think everybody needs to speak up; it’s not just the judges who need to speak up, I think it’s every citizen should feel that it’s important, especially in this 250th anniversary of our country, to learn how our system actually works. And to understand the civics education that some schools don’t provide anymore.”
“You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand what’s at stake,” Kiesel added. “The courts are the one place in this country where it doesn’t mat-ter who you are or how powerful a society you represent. The system only works if judges are independent, ruling on the law and nothing else. These judges are engaged in a call to service.”
Watch the forum here: https://youtube.com/live/O-tXbsx_CjE