Lower court judges who rule against the Trump administration have faced a staggering increase in threats, often fueled by President Donald Trump. But thankfully, a huge boost in security funding was included in the deal to end the government shutdown.
Oh, wait. That was only for the Supreme Court.
An additional $28 million in funding will pay for around-the-clock protection and other enhanced security measures for Supreme Court justices. Similarly, the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for guarding federal judges and courthouses, got a bump of $30 million for “protective operations”—whatever that means.
Meanwhile, lower court judges—the ones who are actually facing threats—received no additional security funds, despite having asked for a 19% increase. That might sound like a lot, but Congress has kept security funding for the courts flat for three years.
A cartoon by Clay Bennett.
That means no new funds for the roughly 1,400 federal judges and 500 magistrate judges, but tons of funding for the nine Supreme Court justices.
The Trump administration couldn’t make it any clearer that the only court it cares about is the Supreme Court—because it reliably lets Trump do whatever he wants, including relentlessly attacking lower court judges who rule against him.
Chief Justice John Roberts has done nothing to address this, instead issuing vague statements about how threats to impeach judges are bad.
All of this is designed to whip the MAGA base into a violent frenzy against lower court judges, and in that way, it has succeeded admirably. Trump keeps calling judges who have the gall to get in his way “lunatics, “crooked,” and “monsters” who hate the United States.
Similarly, Vice President JD Vance has incorrectly said that judges “aren’t allowed” to control the president’s “legitimate power” through rulings that temporarily block Trump’s executive orders. And Attorney General Pam Bondi has called judges “deranged.”
Congressional Republicans have also enthusiastically joined in, doing very cool and normal things like making “wanted” posters of judges.
After U.S. District Court Judge John C. Coughenour ruled against Trump’s wildly unconstitutional attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship, he faced a swatting attack. And when U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell blocked Trump’s funding freeze, he received death threats. At least 11 other federal judges have had members of their families targeted, with threats of arrest and execution.
Judge John Bates, who ordered the administration to restore public health websites, was targeted by Elon Musk, who shared photos of Bates’ family on X.
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But it’s not just on X. Far-right websites like Gateway Pundit have called for at least 51 federal judges to be fired, arrested, or killed.
Trump and his supporters have no qualms about calling for violence against judges. Combine that with the Supreme Court constantly kneecapping the lower courts—overturning rulings and undermining their authority—and what you get is lower court judges being terrorized for doing their job.
And as far as Republicans are concerned, that’s just the price they have to pay.
