Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), John Cornyn (R-TX), Chris Coons (D-DE), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) today reintroduced the Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act, legislation to establish a State Judicial Threat Intelligence and Resource Center that would provide technical assistance, training, and threat monitoring for state and local judges and court personnel. The legislation passed by unanimous consent in the Senate last June, but was not voted on by the House last Congress.
“Online mobs have increasingly lobbed violent threats against judges, including in Rhode Island, for ruling against the Trump administration. Judges and court officials must be able to conduct their work without fearing for their lives or their family’s safety,”said Whitehouse, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This timely bipartisan bill would bolster security at courthouses and judges’ homes to help protect the integrity of our judicial system. We also need to make sure that orchestration of threats is properly investigated.”
“With threats against judges and their families increasing at an alarming rate, more must be done to protect them,” said Cornyn. “This legislation would establish a much-needed resource center to identify and respond to bad actors, ensuring our nation’s courts and the Americans who work in them every day are safe.”
“Public servants should be able to do their jobs free from threats to themselves or their families – and that includes our state and local judges,” said Coons. “Our nation has seen increasing political violence that has too often ended in tragedy – threatening those just trying to serve their country and threatening our democratic system built on respect for the rule of law. I’m proud this bipartisan bill unanimously passed the Senate last year and I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this bill to the president’s desk.”
“Judges perform a critical community service at every level of our justice system,” said Moran. “Regardless of how a judge rules on a case, any form of harassment or intimidation is unacceptable. In response to growing threats and attacks against members of the judiciary, this legislation would provide needed resources and support to local law enforcement tasked with protecting judges and courthouses.”
“We’re seeing an alarming surge of dangerous threats and actions targeting judges across this nation – stoking the flames of violence towards public servants and their families,” said Shaheen. “Our bipartisan legislation offers a commonsense solution to this troubling trend by establishing a State Judicial Threat Intelligence and Resource Center to implement enhanced security measures to keep judges, their families and their staff out of harm’s way.”
The Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act would create a State Judicial Threat Intelligence and Resource Center to:
- Provide technical assistance to state and local judges and court personnel around judicial security;
- Provide physical security assessments for courts, homes, and other facilities where judicial officers and staff conduct court-related business;
- Conduct research to identify, examine, and advance best practices around judicial security; And
- Be housed within the existing State Justice Institute, a private nonprofit and nonpartisan corporation established by Congress in 1984.
Representatives Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Lucy McBath (D-GA) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
The legislation was endorsed by the Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal, National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers, National District Attorneys Association, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Center for State Courts, American Judges Association, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and National Center for State Courts.
