Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, and all Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a letter on Friday warning the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) about the elevated threat environment for federal judges, Supreme Court justices, and their families amid an uptick in threats against the judiciary.
“The USMS’s Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report noted an increase in ‘the need for protective services’ and ‘the number and intensity of concerning and potentially threatening electronic communications related to’ judges and other persons involved in the judicial process. Since then, federal judges at all levels of the judiciary and appointed by presidents of both parties have expressed concern for their and their colleagues’ safety as a result of this threat environment. The level of these threats was sufficient to spur the federal judiciary to establish a Judicial Security and Independence Task Force,” wrote the senators.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced the Judicial Security and Independence Task Force to respond to the growing number of threats to the federal judiciary, the judiciary’s latest effort to protect its judges against violence and intimidation. The senators’ letter urged the Marshals to investigate the sources of these threats and determine whether they violate federal law. The senators also asked whether the Marshals have sufficient resources to protect judges and their families and whether recent cuts to Justice Department funding and personnel have hindered the Marshals’ ability to conduct the necessary investigations.
“The USMS, as the agency primarily responsible for the federal judiciary’s safety, must protect against these threats. As family members increasingly become targets, USMS should be prepared to provide protection as needed for targeted family members. USMS must also proactively investigate the sources of these threats, both for a full understanding of the threat environment and to determine whether civil or criminal remedies are appropriate, including potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1503,”wrote the senators.
The senators requested a briefing from the Marshals Service and answers to the following questions:
Federal judges, Supreme Court justices, and their family members have faced relentless attacks, especially on social media, which have escalated recently. A Supreme Court Justice was the target of an assassination attempt, another Justice’s family member received bomb threats at her residence, a federal judge’s child was threatened, and several federal judges have had deliveries anonymously sent to their residences in an apparent warning that people know their address.
In late March, Whitehouse wrote a letter commending the creation of the Judicial Security and Independence Task Force and urging it to pay close attention to increasing internet-based provocations against federal judges.
The text of the letter is below and a PDF is available here.
April 11, 2025
Mark P. Pittella
Acting Director
United States Marshals Service
1215 S. Clark St.
Arlington, VA 22202
Dear Acting Director Pittella:
We write to request a briefing at your earliest convenience on the U.S. Marshals Service’s (USMS) response to threats against federal judges. These increasing threats of violence may endanger our system of government as well as the lives of these judges and their families—including in our home states.
In February 2024, former USMS Director Ronald Davis testified that “[t]he number of verified threats against federal judges has doubled in the last three years.” Additionally, in January 2025, the USMS’s Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report noted an increase in “the need for protective services” and “the number and intensity of concerning and potentially threatening electronic communications related to” judges and other persons involved in the judicial process. Since then, federal judges at all levels of the judiciary and appointed by presidents of both parties have expressed concern for their and their colleagues’ safety as a result of this threat environment. The level of these threats was sufficient to spur the federal judiciary to establish a Judicial Security and Independence Task Force.
The USMS, as the agency primarily responsible for the federal judiciary’s safety, must protect against these threats. As family members increasingly become targets, USMS should be prepared to provide protection as needed for targeted family members. USMS must also proactively investigate the sources of these threats, both for a full understanding of the threat environment and to determine whether civil or criminal remedies are appropriate, including potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1503.
We would like to ensure that USMS has allocated its resources to fulfill these missions and to ensure that the USMS’s work has not been damaged by DOJ personnel and funding cuts. Please let us know if additional USMS resources are necessary to guarantee the protection of our federal judges and their families.
To prepare for the briefing, we request answers to the below questions related to USMS’s work on this front.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to your response and a briefing.
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