Right
now
is
a
tough
time
to
be
a
federal
judge.
While
the
judiciary
has
long
been
(naively)
thought
of
as
the
neutral
branch,
judges
with
steadfast
commitment
to
upholding
the
Constitution
have
been
facing
serious
consequences.
By
consequences
I
don’t
mean
being
“forced”
to
flee
Morton’s
Steakhouse
because
protestors
were
pissed
at
you
for
overturning
Roe
v.
Wade
—
the
court
basically
blessed
that
with
the
way
they
handled
Madsen
v.
Women’s
Health
Center.
I
mean
actual
threats
to
life
and
liberty
like
the
would
be
assassin
that
tried
to
kill
Kavanaugh.
Federal
judges
banned
together
to
speak
out
against
the
uptick
in
violent
crime
and
threats
befalling
judges
for
simply
doing
their
jobs.
CBS
News
has
coverage:
Judge
John
Coughenour
–
appointed
by
Ronald
Reagan…blocked
President
Trump’s
bid
to
end
birthright
citizenship.
He
wasn’t
prepared
for
what
happened
next.Judge
John
Coughenour:
My
wife
and
I
are
at
home.
And
the
doorbell
rings.
And
I
go
to
the
door.
And
there’s,
I
think,
five
sheriff’s
deputies
there
with
long
rifles
–Bill
Whitaker:
And
they
show
up
with
guns
drawn?Judge
John
Coughenour:
Oh
yeah.
Yes,
yes.
Long
guns,
very
intimidating
guns.
And
they
said
to
me,
“Sir,
could
we
see
your
wife?”
And
I
said,
“whatever
for?”
And
they
said,
well,
sir,
we’ve
had
a
report
that
you’ve
murdered
your
wife.”It
was
a
cruel
hoax.
The
next
day?
A
bomb
threat.
It
should
be
plainly
obvious
that
the
President
is
not
empowered
to
willy
nilly
invalidate
our
Supreme
document
the
moment
it
inconveniences
their
policy
plans.
That’s
kind
of
the
point
of
checks
and
balances
—
if
the
Executive
or
the
Legislative
branches
go
too
far,
the
judiciary
is
supposed
to
point
at
the
Constitution
and
reel
them
back
in.
You
don’t
reward
that
behavior
by
swatting
judges.
Judge
Coughenour
wasn’t
the
only
judge
to
get
this
treatment.
U.S.
District
Judge
Tanya
Chutkan
was
similarly
swatted
after
she
oversaw
Trump’s
federal
election
interference
case.
And
when
dialing
911
doesn’t
do
the
trick,
these
cowards
have
taken
to
calling
pizzerias.
When
D.C.
Circuit
Judge
J.
Michelle
Childs
got
a
cheese
pizza
delivered
to
her
home
it
wasn’t
meant
to
make
deciding
dinner
easier
that
night.
It
was
a
threat
—
the
pizza
was
delivered
with
the
name
Daniel
Anderl,
the
son
of
U.S.
District
Judge
Esther
Salas.
Anderl
was
shot
dead
by
someone
who
knew
the
judge’s
address.
These
cheesy
threats
are
way
more
credible
than
Comey’s
sea
shell
art,
yet
the
White
House
has
done
little
to
address
the
uptick
in
outrage
directed
at
judges.
The
“Hey,
don’t
attack
these
crazy
bastards”
response
felt
a
lot
more
like
stand
back
and
stand
by.
Judges
usually
keep
their
thoughts
to
themselves
rather
than
risk
muddying
themselves
with
politics
and
appearing
impartial.
The
fact
that
this
many
judges
were
willing
to
speak
out
against
how
unsafe
their
workplace
has
become
is
a
sign
on
how
bad
things
are
going.
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.