Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics A group of residents is banding together to defend judges facing threats and violence Boston-area residents have formed a group to support federal judges facing hostile rhetoric and violent threats. National A group of residents is banding together to defend judges facing threats and violence April 26, 20268:08 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday By Carrie Johnson , Diantha Parker A group of residents is banding together to defend judges facing threats and violence Listen · 2:21 2:21 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5795823/nx-s1-9745279" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Boston-area residents have formed a group to support federal judges facing hostile rhetoric and violent threats. Sponsor Message
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And it's not just members of Congress dealing with these threats. Federal judges say they are also experiencing them. They say it's because of the ways they rule. As NPR's Carrie Johnson reports, lawyers and community groups are working together to stop this.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: U.S. District Judge Esther Salas lost her son nearly six years ago when a disgruntled lawyer showed up at her home and opened fire. Last week, she spoke at an American Bar Association conference in Boston.
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ESTHER SALAS: I am more concerned now than I have ever been, including when my only child was murdered in my foyer of my home.
JOHNSON: Judge Salas detailed a widespread campaign to intimidate judges.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SALAS: When a ruling goes a certain way, there's praise.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Right.
SALAS: When a ruling goes another way, there's demonization.
JOHNSON: Salas said other judges have been getting unwanted pizza deliveries at strange hours. Some of those pizzas have been sent in the name of her dead son.
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SALAS: These pizza-doxing incidents are allegedly being investigated, but I have yet to see the attorney general or the deputy attorney general denounce these acts of intimidation at a podium.
JOHNSON: Salas said it's up to the American people to speak up and support judges under pressure. One group has been taking that message to heart. Naomi Leavitt (ph) helped found Support the Courts last year.
NAOMI LEAVITT: We feel really strongly that no judge should be threatened in any way, and if anybody's threatened, then our democracy is weak.
JOHNSON: On a rainy Boston afternoon, she stood on a busy street outside the ABA conference wearing a purple T-shirt and handing out flyers.
LEAVITT: Thank you. Thanks for stopping.
JOHNSON: Kathy Jantzen (ph) is another member of the group.
KATHY JANTZEN: We're really trying very hard to support the branch of government that is under attack at the moment, which is the judiciary.
JOHNSON: Support the Courts recently launched a campaign to send postcards to every federal judge, and they set up a tool kit so other communities can rally to back judges across the country.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News.
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