Judges feared for the safety of their families, installing panic buttons in their homes
Two recent studies have revealed that in the face of threats and harassment, federal judges in the US have responded by amping up personal security – and one judge even pondered issuing a different decision to protect their family.
The studies were conducted by legal scholars at New York University, the University of California - Berkeley, and the Brennan Center for Justice. They revealed that “security incidents of significant concern” to judges soared by 57 percent in the year ending September 2025, The Associated Press reported; the agency administering the US court system revealed in a March report that this figure is set to increase this year.
Amrit Singh, director of NYU’s Rule of Law Lab and lead author of the study conducted by NYU and Berkeley, was told by judges that they were overwhelmed and struggled to sleep; moreover, they had fitted their residences with security cameras and panic buttons.
The judge who had pondered issuing a different decision told Singh that they had struggled with fear for almost an hour before they ultimately stuck with the judgment that was in line with the law.
“We are in a different era. The volume, intensity, character and modalities of the threats that we are witnessing today are new,” Singh said in a statement published by AP News.
Another judge who heard an immigration case involving the Trump administration was threatened in over 700 phone calls, they revealed in the other study. They indicated that the floor plans of their house were leaked and they wound up constructing a safe room.
“Long term, there really is a danger to the rule of law from these threats,” said Gowri Ramachandran, the Brennan Center’s director of elections and security and co-author of the other study, in a statement published by AP News.
Both studies called for judicial security to be properly financed and for judges’ personal information to be better protected. The NYU-Berkeley study also urged the increased prosecution of people who are threatening judges.
US district judge Esther Salas, who contributed to both studies, told AP News that US president Trump and his administration had contributed significantly to judges’ fears for their safety. She expressed concern that the public would become numb to dangerous rhetoric against the judiciary.
The researchers of the NYU-Berkeley study interviewed 32 active US district and appellate judges and 2 active magistrate judges. The Brennan Center study researchers spoke to 35 sitting and retired federal judges, per AP News.
