Two top House Judiciary Democrats have called on U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to request more help from Congress to protect federal judges and court personnel, citing an alarming surge in threats and chronic underfunding of the court system’s security infrastructure.
In a letter sent on April 21, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who leads the Courts Subcommittee, asked Roberts whether the federal judiciary needs additional authorities or funding to ensure safety and independence, and if so, to ask Congress for help.
“We write to you about the alarming rise in threats of violence being made against federal judges, with many of these threats not being idle ones at all,” they wrote. “The whole climate of anti-judicial violence and intimidation is intolerable within our constitutional order.”…