starbet777 A Federal Judge Says: Knock Off the Threats

As a federal judge for more than 40 years, I appreciated the recent year-end report by Chief Justice John Roberts condemning the “significant” increase in threats aimed at courts. Too much of this is flying around nowadays. It is not a partisan issue. Harassment comes from all parts of the political spectrum, and it is aimed at judges of all supposed political stripes.

Judges are human beings. Let’s start there. We are, to be frank, mostly rather homely, boringly conscientious, hard-working people. We find the facts, apply the law, decide the case and move on. My motto has always been: “A dull trial is a happy trial.” We know we are fallible, but we do the best we can. We don’t deserve this abuse.

Criticism is one thing, and I’ve expressed my share of it. As the chief justice’s report says, with admirable understatement: “It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy.” But physical threats and harassment, whether spat out directly or launched sideways, with a deniable wink or curled lip,jiliace login are entirely different. Since judges are not going to be deterred or influenced by these tactics, attempts at intimidation are not only cowardly, but also stupid.

It’s worth adding that threats are also deeply unpatriotic. Our tripartite Republic (thank you, James Madison) is classically described as a three-legged stool, with Congress, the president and the courts as its three supports. Break or badly damage one leg — say, the judiciary — and the country is in danger of toppling over onto its butt.

Few judges these days seem to complete a career without receiving credible threats to themselves and to their families. The chief justice’s report notes more than 1,000 such serious threats against federal judges investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service in the past five years alone.

As the chief justice also noted, “Public officials, too, regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges — for example, suggesting political bias in the judge’s adverse ruling without a credible basis.” He warned that “intemperance” in statements by our political leaders about judges “may prompt dangerous reactions by others.” No judge I know would remotely disagree with this. I certainly wouldn’t.

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