'Horrifying': Judges who ruled against Trump say this MAGA threat is the 'most disturbing'

Four sitting female judges detailed Thursday the escalating threats they face over their rulings, including explicit intimidation that often targets them in ways their male colleagues rarely experience.

At an event organized by Speak Up for Justice, a nonpartisan movement to defend the courts, judges cited threats of sexual assault, violent messages and harassment of family members as part of a rise in attacks on the judiciary.

The U.S. Marshals Service has logged 543 threats against federal judges so far this year, already exceeding the total number in 2024. Threats against state judges, who preside over 95 percent of cases nationwide, are not systematically tracked.

Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez of the Colorado Supreme Court recounted the harassment that followed a 4-3 ruling to disqualify President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot (which was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court). She said all seven justices on the court were targeted, regardless of how they voted.

“We also quickly learned… that all of our personal information had been doxxed. As a result, many of us received very hateful phone calls and threatening text messages on our personal cell phones. Many of those messages in certain cases were overtly racist or overtly misogynistic, overtly referred to sexual violence, were overtly homophobic,” Márquez said.

She also described how the threats extended beyond the judges themselves.

“Perhaps most disturbing, in some cases, callers were actually able to spoof our immediate family members, such that when the justice would receive a phone call that appeared to be coming from a family member and would respond, it would turn out that there was not the family member but some angry stranger, yelling obscenities."

Judge Carroll J. Kelly, U.S. State Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, said she faced cyberattacks and stalking after multiple case rulings. Law enforcement maintained round-the-clock security at her home, and she was instructed to carry a gun for personal safety.

“He was a trained sniper, hand-to-hand combat expert, and an expert marksman, all highly trained. I had officers around the clock at my home, but they came in, they said, 'let's get guns, let's get those loaded. You need to carry a gun with you. You need to have a gun with you at all times.' They sat down with me and said, 'the truth of the matter is, we can have officers around your house, which we will, but if he wants to get you, he is so highly trained, he's going to get you.'"

Judge Beth Bloom of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, who serves on the Speak Up for Justice executive committee, condemned the law enforcement response to the threats against Judge Kelly.

“It's horrifying to know that Judge Kelly was told by law enforcement that she had to be trained to use a weapon and to carry it with her to protect herself. I mean, we should all be shocked that we're just doing our job and we're being told that we have to literally protect ourselves from someone who will take aim and, as the police told Judge Kelly, ‘will kill her,’” Bloom said.

The forum highlighted how female judges, in particular, encounter threats that combine misogyny with other forms of bias. Participants emphasized that while threats against judges are rising broadly, women on the bench often face uniquely gendered harassment.