Trump Allies’ Criticism of Judges Prompts Security Concerns

President Donald Trump’s allies have fueled misinformation and verbal attacks against courts on social media, raising concerns that judges hearing high-profile litigation challenging his administration could be at risk.

Elon Musk, whose government efficiency team’s actions are being litigated in multiple courts, has amplified posts targeting judges who have put temporary blocks on early Trump administration actions, a regular step in litigation. Some posts shared by Musk and other Trump associates have included information about judges’ family members.

Experts on disinformation, the purposeful spread of inaccurate information, and misinformation, the unintentional sharing of false information, said such posts can spread quickly, especially without fact checking. X, the Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter, offers a “community notes” feature but no formal fact checking process.

Legal experts said courts are in a tough position, as they’re unlikely to step up and defend themselves. A spokesperson for the federal judiciary declined to comment on the attacks, or whether the courts plan on pushing back against the rhetoric.

“Once they breach that wall and appear to be taking sides in the debate, no matter how inappropriate the rhetoric is, they run a risk,” said John E. Jones III, a former federal judge in Pennsylvania. He noted that the courts are dependent on Congress for funding and other resources, giving judges more reason not to speak out.

Judges are also limited by ethical rules in what they can say publicly outside of their rulings.

Social media allows attacks to spread more quickly than the federal government is equipped to handle, said Joan Donovan, a journalism professor at Boston University who studies disinformation.

“There’s no way in which judges are going to be able to speak out about the media circus that Musk is orchestrating,” Donovan said.

Without being able to defend themselves, judges rely on outside bodies to defend the courts.

But Jones, now president of Dickinson College, said he finds that idea “unavailing.”

“People have to cut to the ultimate chase here and ask ourselves, as a nation, do we really want to get a member of the federal judiciary harmed or killed, or their family members harmed or killed?” he said. “That’s the roulette that we’re playing here, and that worries me terribly.”

Musk’s Posts

Musk has been posting about judges’ reach since a Manhattan judge, appointed by Barack Obama, on Feb. 8 barred members of his team from accessing Treasury Department payment systems. That decision was criticized for seeming to also apply to other department appointees like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and was later modified by another federal judge.

Musk has since turned his ire toward a federal judge in Washington, a George W. Bush appointee, who ordered federal health agencies to restore websites with health statistics while he considers the case further, calling the judge “evil” and amplifying posts about the judge’s wife.

He’s also shared posts about a Rhode Island federal judge appointed by Barack Obama who said the Trump administration wasn’t complying with his order that federal funds be restored after they were initially frozen.

Steven Lubet, a law professor emeritus at Northwestern University, said judges and their families also came under attack as courts issued rulings in favor of Black Americans during the civil rights era in the 1960s and 70s. But he said the government fully complied with those rulings.

“The idea that a judge could be impeached based on the content of a decision is totally repudiated in American history,” Lubet said.

The majority of rulings issued by judges so far are temporary restraining orders, decisions meant to keep the status quo in place while a court hears fuller arguments on whether to issue a more permanent block against a policy or action.

Lubet said these temporary rulings are “actually a conservative thing for a judge to do,” and that if lawyers can show a pause is needed, they’re usually granted.

Attacking a judge for issuing a temporary order “just shows a complete failure to understand what’s necessary in order to get a fair determination in court,” Lubet added.

Escalating Attacks

Public attacks of judges from Trump and his allies aren’t new. Trump called New York state court judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s criminal case over hush-money payments, a “certified Trump-hater,” and called out his daughter by name.

Democrats have also faced some backlash for singling out judges in public criticism.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) drew criticism in 2020 for saying at a rally that Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices “won’t know what hit” them if they rule against abortion rights. Schumer later said he regretted his word choice.

And threats to judges in general have risen in recent years.

Still, legal experts see the latest deluge in social media posts from Musk and other conservative figures as an escalation in aggression toward the judiciary.

The consequences of these attacks “can be severe,” said Jeffrey Blevins, professor at the University of Cincinnati’s school of public and international affairs who studies disinformation on social media.

“Look no further than January 6th. We can see the impact that sustained disinformation campaigns can have,” Blevins said, referring to the 2021 riot at the US Capitol. “People will believe it. And in many cases, it encourages them to act violently. You’re putting people in harm by doing this.”

Samuel Woolley, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies disinformation, said ideally, government officials and owners of major media platforms “have had a duty to democracy.”

He said these attacks now on judges and other democratic institutions are “straight out of the authoritarian playbook.”

Musk, who has over 217 million followers on X, “has instrumentalized and used trolls on X as his private army,” Donovan said.

“Musk is not just the greediest man in the world, but he’s also one of the most connected people on the planet. That targeting, when it’s done on that scale, spreads the danger even further and wider,” Donovan said.