Over
the
past
couple
weeks,
authorities
say
Acting
Supreme
Court
Justice
Susan
Capeci
received
multiple
threatening
messages
from
the
account
of
attorney
Nicholas
Leo.
From
May
27
until
just
last
week,
the
judge
got
texts
like
“I
hope
you
die”
and
the
more
specific
“I
wish
you
die
tonight
in
a
car
fire”
from
the
lawyer
currently
involved
in
a
custody
dispute
in
Capeci’s
courtroom
where
he’s
racked
up
a
couple
of
contempt
rulings.
As
threats
made
by
lawyers
go,
it’s
no
“anally
raped
by
an
asteroid,”
but
that
doesn’t
make
it
any
better.
He’s
being
held
without
bail
right
now
and
whatever
happens,
there’s
now
a
protective
order
barring
him
from
contacting
Capeci.
Of
course
it
would
be
a
lawyer
whose
threats
pointedly
avoid
saying
that
HE
planned
to
do
anything.
Oh,
I
didn’t
say
I
was
going
to
set
your
car
on
fire…
just
that
it
would
be
welcomed
warmly
by
me
if
somehow
you
did
purchase
a
Tesla.
The
messages
read
like
someone
intent
on
committing
aggravated
harassment
but
who
thinks
he
can
get
around
it
if
he
makes
sure
to
use
the
passive
voice
enough.
Very
lawyerly…
and
very
unlikely
to
work.
The
weaponized
wishful
thinking
didn’t
impress
District
Attorney
Susan
Cacace,
who
dusted
off
Chief
Justice
Roberts’s
annual
report
in
remarks
quoted
in
the
NY
Post:
“At
a
time
of
increasing
threats
to
members
of
the
judiciary,
the
defendant’s
alleged
conduct
is
especially
alarming,”
she
said.
“As
U.S.
Supreme
Court
Chief
Justice
John
Roberts
observed
in
his
2024
report
on
the
federal
judiciary,
‘violence,
intimidation,
and
defiance
directed
at
judges
because
of
their
work
undermine
our
Republic,
and
are
wholly
unacceptable.’
That
Roberts
report
sounds
almost
impressive
when
you
can
cherry-pick
the
direct
passages
and
don’t
have
to
deal
with
his
rambling
equivocating
about
how
media
criticism
of
partisan
opinions
is
sorta
like
burning
a
cross
on
a
judge’s
lawn
in
the
60s.
But
while
Roberts
tried
to
use
the
uptick
in
threats
against
judges
to
grind
his
personal
axe
about
the
media
being
mean
just
because
Sam
Alito
flies
insurrection
flags,
the
danger
to
judges
is
real
and
needs
to
be
addressed.
Judge
Salas’s
son
was
killed
by
a
disgruntled
litigant
trying
to
get
to
her
and
the
Trump
administration
is
whipping
up
his
followers
by
claiming
some
of
the
most
even-keeled
jurists
in
America
are
Marxist
threats
to
the
nation.
“We
must
never
allow
this
type
of
conduct
to
become
normalized,”
Cacace
added.
“The
sanctity
of
our
legal
process
demands
nothing
less.”
The
sanctity
of
the
our
legal
process
demands
quite
a
bit
more,
but
this
is
definitely
the
bare
minimum.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.
