Democrat Suggests DOJ Politics Hamper Judge Threat Probes (1)

A top Judiciary Democrat questioned whether the agency that protects federal judges is properly investigating the rise in threats against the judiciary and suggested the escalation may be driven by prominent conservative activists.

It’s a “really big question” as to whether the US Marshals Service is taking an “honest look” at causes behind these threats, beyond the individuals making them, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s federal courts panel, said during a Bloomberg Government roundtable Tuesday.

The law enforcement agency is part of the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Its placement has fueled recent concerns that the Marshals Service could be caught between its primary mission to guard the judiciary and its duty to the department that houses it.

“There could be some real tension there between the Marshals’ duty to do their job, looking behind the immediate uttering of the threat, and the Bondi MAGA world desperately wanting none of that investigation to take place, because it leads back to MAGA,” Whitehouse said, referring to the Make America Great Again movement aligned with President Donald Trump.

A Justice Department spokesperson said judicial security security for the federal judiciary is “the cornerstone of our nation’s democracy” and the marshals “take that responsibility very seriously.”

“The Department will remain vigilant in using all available tools and resources to investigate and prosecute those who threaten, stalk, or dox members of the federal judiciary,” the spokesperson said.

Critics have accused Trump and Bondi of politicizing the Justice Department, including by installing Trump’s former personal lawyers into top roles and by bringing criminal charges against his perceived enemies.

Trump and top allies have also publicly criticized judges overseeing high-profile challenges to his administration’s actions.

Meanwhile, threats have escalated against federal judges across the US. The US Marshals Service logged 562 total threats against federal judges last fiscal year, up from 509 the prior year. The agency recorded 20 additional threats in the first two weeks of October alone.

Judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries to their personal residences, intended as a message that the sender knows where the judge lives. Some of those deliveries have been sent in the name of the murdered son of a New Jersey federal judge.

Whitehouse was skeptical that the deliveries were isolated incidents. He also highlighted the role Trump allies, including Elon Musk and right-wing activist Laura Loomer, have played in amplifying criticism of federal judges hearing challenges to administration policies, and in some cases their family members.

“The notion that it’s spontaneous and all separate and independent, and that there’s no coordination or instigation or orchestration, simply doesn’t make common sense,” he said. “That’s an area that we’re focusing on, because I think that’s a real point of conflict between the MAGA DOJ and whether it’s going to do its jobs properly.”

The Rhode Island senator asked Bondi at a Senate hearing earlier this month if the Marshals Service is “allowed to investigate orchestration of threats” and if they’d taken steps to do so. Bondi offered to meet with the senator and the agency’s director to discuss the issue in the future.