Federal District Judge John Coughenour said he was unprepared for the backlash after he temporarily blocked President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order last year and called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” He recounted receiving “dozens if not hundreds” of death threats.
“I’ve been at this for 44 years. I have never encountered the hostility toward the judiciary that has existed in this country in the last year,” Coughenour said. “And I don’t think it’s because we’re making bad decisions. I think it’s because there are people who think they can make a lot of political hay out of criticizing the federal judiciary.”
President Trump has repeatedly labeled judges “lunatics,” “crooked,” or “Trump-hating,” and threats often follow rulings against his administration. Last year, 400 federal judges were the targets of serious threats — a 78% increase compared with four years earlier, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
The White House told CBS News it was “deeply unserious” to suggest its comments about judges could prompt threats, noting that as “a survivor of two assassination attempts, no one understands the dangers of political violence more than President Trump.” The White House also accused the judiciary of “brazen defiance” with “unlawful rulings” that have “repeatedly obstructed the election choices of the American people.”
But judges say the harsh political rhetoric threatens their safety and the independence of the courts. Sixty Minutes spoke with 26 federal judges — nine appointed by Democrats and 17 by Republicans — and many expressed concern about democracy.
“The independence of the judiciary is extraordinarily important,” Coughenour said. “And it’s too important to allow it to be sacrificed and not speak up and say something.”
Why Trump is attacking judges
Mr. Trump lashed out at Supreme Court justices — including two conservative justices he nominated — after the court struck down his global tariffs, calling them “fools and lapdogs” and accusing them of disloyalty to the Constitution. Such denunciations are part of a broader pattern when judges rule against him.
At a Michigan rally last year, Mr. Trump said he would not allow “a handful of communist radical left judges” to obstruct enforcement of laws. Retired Federal Judge John Jones, a George W. Bush appointee, said he believes the president is trying to delegitimize the federal courts. “This is a presidency sort of on steroids,” Jones said, noting a “very dormant” Congress and a president who seeks to redefine law.
Jones said the administration is testing the limits of presidential authority. With more than 600 lawsuits challenging the administration’s agenda, judges find themselves in the middle.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declined a 60 Minutes interview. At a Federalist Society event last year, Blanche blamed judges for blocking presidential actions: “We are routinely getting stays and getting reversals because of local judges just not following the law, full stop,” he said. “There’s a group of judges that are repeat players. And that’s obviously not by happenstance. That’s intentional. And it’s a war, man.” In an email to 60 Minutes, Blanche said some judges issue “overbroad and even unreasoned injunctions” and added that “threats and intimidation of federal officials is unlawful.”
What judges say they’re facing
After his birthright citizenship ruling, Coughenour was at home when deputies responded to a call alleging he had killed his wife. That hoax was followed by a bomb threat, and a congressman later posted a wanted-style poster naming federal judges who had ruled against the administration, including Coughenour. He received hundreds of death threats.
Ron Zayas, CEO of Ironwall, a company that removes judges’ personal data from the web, said threats have evolved. “The threats used to be, ‘you ruled against me. And I want to kill you,'” Zayas said. “Now the kind of threats we’re seeing, there’s a whole other sphere of saying ‘I want to influence what you do.’ It’s mob mentality.”
U.S. Marshals are investigating “pizza doxxing,” in which unsolicited pizzas are delivered to judges and their families. At least 20 pizzas were delivered to homes using the name of Daniel Salas, the late son of Judge Esther Salas of New Jersey. In 2020, a disgruntled litigant attacked Salas’s family at their home, killing Daniel and wounding her husband. The pizza deliveries sent an ominous message, Salas said. “We know where you live. We know where your children live,” she said. “And do you want to end up like Judge Salas’s son?”
Judges say the U.S. Marshals, charged with determining which threats could lead to violence, are overwhelmed. Jones and 55 other retired judges formed a bipartisan group to lobby the White House over the surge in threats. “In very plain English: if we’re not careful we’re gonna get a judge killed,” Jones said. “It’s just that stark.”
While political rhetoric did not cause the attack that killed Salas’s son, she said the current climate makes similar tragedies likelier. “I sit here as Daniel’s mom. I sit here as a woman who lost her only child. Mark and I have been to hell and back,” she said. “When I see that kind of irresponsible behavior coming from our political leaders and people in power it makes me sad. And it makes me very worried, because I worry for our democracy, I really do.” Salas warned that vilifying judges erodes trust in the courts: “If you disagree with a ruling that we make, appeal us. If you disagree with a sentence we render, appeal us. The answer is not to dehumanize us.”
Who’s making threats against judges
Threats come from across the political spectrum. There has been a rise in left-wing threats, including those aimed at judges who ruled in the president’s favor. High-ranking Democrats have also attacked judges verbally: in 2020, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — who later apologized — warned two Supreme Court justices they would “pay the price” if they banned abortion. In 2022, a would-be assassin was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home.
Jones, who was appointed by a Republican president, said rhetoric from both sides has worsened over time but maintained there is “simply no evidence” of behavior from Democrats similar to the Trump administration’s pattern toward the federal judiciary.