On Tuesday, writing for The New York Times, Esther Salas — a New Jersey federal judge who was attacked in her home by a disgruntled plaintiff who injured her husband and killed her son — spoke out about the growing danger to federal judges, and called on Congress to take action.
"My attacker sought to hurt me but his ire, and his focus, were not unique. Federal judges are at risk from other would-be attackers," wrote Salas. "For judges and their families, better security is a matter of life and death. But its importance goes beyond our well-being alone. For our nation’s sake, judicial security is essential. Federal judges must be free to make their decisions, no matter how unpopular, without fear of harm. The federal government has a responsibility to protect all federal judges because our safety is foundational to our great democracy."
"After Daniel’s death, I learned from F.B.I. agents that it’s easy to find personal information about judges on the internet," continued Salas. "Judges’ addresses can be purchased online for just a few dollars, including photos of our homes and the license plates on our vehicles. In my case, this deranged gunman was able to create a complete dossier of my life: he stalked my neighborhood, mapped my routes to work and even learned the names of my best friend and the church I attend. All of which was completely legal. This access to such personal information enabled this man to take our only child from my husband, Mark, and me."
"In my case, Roy Den Hollander, a New York lawyer who had filed a suit against the male-only military draft, harbored deadly grudges," she continued. "On July 11, 2020, he killed a lawyer in California. Eight days later, he came to our door and killed Daniel. Too late, I learned that he had often described himself as 'anti-feminist.' In a self-published memoir, he described me as 'a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama.'"
One solution to this danger, Salas wrote, would be to pass the bipartisan legislation currently in Congress that would protect the personal information of judges and allow them to redact it from the internet.
"If Daniel’s death shows our country anything, it is that threats against federal judges are real, that they have dire consequences," concluded Salas. "For the sake of my brothers and sisters on the bench, Congress must act now. Every day that goes by without action leaves our federal judges, our justice system and our very democracy in danger."
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