Judge whose son was killed: Trump-fueled threats must stop or more will die

While a judicial coalition applauded a federal appeals court decision this week to dismiss a complaint against a judge who stopped the Trump administration deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, the group is continuing to sound the alarm on threats to and attacks on judges they say the president is fueling.

Paul Kiesel, founder of Speak Up for Justice, a nonpartisan group advocating for judicial independence and protection, told Raw Story attacks from President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice, such as those directed at Judge James Boasberg in the District of Columbia, can have life-and-death consequences.

Just last month in Indiana, a superior court judge and his wife were shot at their home, allegedly in an attempt to derail a domestic abuse case involving a motorcycle club member.

Between 2021 and 2024, amid a wave of political violence, serious threats to federal judges more than doubled, Reuters reported.

“It's coming to the very top,” said Kiesel, a trial attorney in California.

“We've never, ever, ever had a president who has directly threatened and encouraged others to, in some ways, go after these judges.”

Trump has posted screeds directed at Boasberg and other judges. Last Memorial Day, he accused judges of being “on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country, so they can rob, murder and rape again.”

In the Truth Social post, he called out “USA hating judges” and called them “monsters who want our country to go to Hell.”

Trump posted about Boasberg, accusing him of suffering from “Massive Trump Derangement Syndrome,” labeling him a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator,” and calling for his impeachment.

In a recent Senate hearing, Boasberg was one of two judges Republicans said should be impeached and removed.

Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice filed the judicial misconduct complaint against Boasberg, based on comments about the Trump administration allegedly made in a closed-door meeting. The complaint was dismissed, due to insufficient evidence.

Esther Salas, a U.S. district judge in New Jersey, told Raw Story: “To call judges monsters, to accuse judges of being corrupt, without any basis for that wild assertion, to declare war on judges, coming out of the Department of Justice of all places? This is no longer apples to apples. It's just not.”

Such language, particularly from the Trump administration and Republican leaders, is “the kind of stuff that's going to get someone killed,” Salas said.

‘Dangerous, irresponsible rhetoric’

Salas knows how threats to judges can turn deadly.

In July 2020 her son, Daniel Anderl, was fatally shot when a gunman disguised as a deliveryman came to the family’s New Jersey home, seeking Salas.

U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas with her son, Daniel Anderl, who was murdered in 2020 Courtesy Judge Salas

Salas’ husband, Mark Anderl, was seriously wounded.

The gunman, who authorities said also killed California attorney Marc Angelucci before killing himself, was identified as Roy Den Hollander, a lawyer with a history of anti-feminist writings.

Den Hollander reportedly had a target list of female judges, half of whom were Latina and including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, according to PBS.

After her son’s death, Salas said she hesitated to speculate on the role of politics in increased attacks and threats to judges.

But now, Salas told Raw Story, “I don't see any other possible explanation, other than this rhetoric, this dangerous, irresponsible rhetoric that comes from our political leaders from the top down.

“We have seen just a doubling down by this administration, and the attacks are far more than I had ever seen.”

Salas started publicly speaking out against threats to judges last year, after she learned that in at least 20 cases, pizzas were being delivered to judges’ homes in her son’s name, as a form of doxxing.

In July, she first spoke to Raw Story about the issue.

“Clearly that's a form of intimidation at its highest level. ‘You want to end up like Judge Salas? You want to end up like her murdered son, Daniel?’” she said.

‘Serious stuff’

Threats to federal judges spiked in fiscal year 2023, with 630 threats, according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service, which protects the federal judiciary.

By comparison, in fiscal year 2019 the Marshals Service investigated just 179 threats, Reuters reported.

Citing an “alarming rise” in threats, Salas said threats remain an “unaddressed form of intimidation that has yet to be really denounced by the Department of Justice.”

Through Jan. 30, the Marshals Service has conducted 230 investigations for 176 threats to judges in fiscal year 2026.

“We’re under attack,” Salas said. “I feel like we're getting it from every possible angle.”

The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, making it harder to find federal judges’ addresses, passed Congress and was signed by then-President Joe Biden in December 2022.

However, 30,000 state-level judges lack the protections federal judges receive — despite their own exposure to threats and violence.

Speak Up for Justice is advocating for passage of the bipartisan Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act, which would monitor threats and provide security for state judges. It passed the Senate in June 2024 but is stalled in the House.

“The work of being a judge has become much more challenging today because of the threats they're facing from so many external sources,” Kiesel said.

Attorney and Speak Up for Justice founder Paul Kiesel (provided photo)

While it’s common for people to disagree with a judge’s ruling, appeals courts exist for that reason, Kiesel said, and personal attacks directed at judges set the stage for bad actors to “bring retribution,” thereby raising anxiety.

Salas said: “Judges are fine with people criticizing our opinions, people appealing us.

“But it's this new brand of attack that is so personal that really is having what, I fear, will be an everlasting impact on the justice system, on America's perception of the justice system, and on judges and the threats to judges, not only their security, but our independence moving forward.

“This is pretty serious stuff.”