FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Contact: nahmed@ncdoj.gov
919-538-2809
RALEIGH – Attorney General Jeff Jackson and a bipartisan coalition of 46 other attorneys general are asking Congressional leaders to increase security funding for federal judges. There is rising concern for the safety and security of judges as the number of threats and hostile incidents against them continue to rise. The requested increase in funding will provide the resources that are necessary to upgrade various security features that will help keep judges safe.
“The rule of law depends on judges being able to make decisions without fear of violence or intimidation,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “We need Congress to provide these funds to keep judges, their families, and their staff safe.”
There has been a “hard freeze” placed on funding for the Judiciary’s Court Security program for the last two years. The funding freeze has diverted funds from courthouse visual monitoring systems and “Physical Access Control Systems” that restrict access to non-public areas like judges’ chambers.
Additional resources are also needed to fund the Judiciary’s Vulnerability Management Program (VMP), which includes the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act. The Anderl Act, passed in 2022 with bipartisan support, honors Daniel Anderl, the son of New Jersey District Court Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered in his home during an attempted assassination of Judge Salas in 2020. The Anderl Act prohibits data brokers from selling judges’ personal information and enables federal judges and their family members to request that businesses and government agencies remove such information from their websites.
The number of hostile threats and messages directed at judges has more than tripled over the last 10 years, and more than 100 federal judges have been “doxxed” with unsolicited deliveries to their homes. The burden of keeping judges safe should not fall on the judges themselves, which is why the bipartisan group of attorneys general are asking Congress to approve this funding.
Joining Attorney General Jackson in sending this letter are Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
A copy of the letter is available here.
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