Federal judges face unprecedented threats while checking Trump administration overreach

Federal judges across the United States are facing death threats and impeachment calls while delivering repeated legal setbacks to the Trump administration's expansive use of executive power. Dozens of judicial rulings have found the administration noncompliant with court orders and operating outside legal boundaries in cases involving immigration, civil rights and government oversight.

District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie of South Carolina this week dismissed Justice Department cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling the Trump-appointed prosecutor had "no lawful authority" to bring the indictments. The decision represents the latest in a series of judicial rebukes to administration actions.

Unprecedented defiance of court orders

A Washington Post analysis found judges had ruled against the Trump administration in nearly half of 337 lawsuits during the president's first six months back in office. In more than one-third of cases, the administration was found noncompliant or outright defiant of judicial orders.

District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of Maryland, a Trump appointee, described the government's response to her deportation order as "we haven't done anything and don't intend to." According to tracking by Just Security, there have been 26 cases of administration noncompliance with court orders and more than 60 instances where judges complained of government lawyers' misinformation.

Broad judicial coalition emerges

More than 100 federal judges—appointees of every president since Ronald Reagan, including a dozen Trump selections—have ruled at least 200 times that administration actions violated civil rights or were otherwise illegal. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Reagan appointee elevated by Clinton, blocked the administration's use of IRS data to identify migrants for deportation, citing privacy violations.

"The track record captures both the sweep of Trump's challenges to the rule of law and brave judges' pushback," said legal analyst Jackie Calmes. "These courageous judges persist despite serious personal risks."

Threats and personal attacks escalate

Judges have endured emails and calls threatening assassination, SWAT visits and "pizza-doxxings"—messages indicating knowledge of their home addresses. District Judge James Boasberg, singled out by Trump as a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge," has faced multiple threats while overseeing deportation cases.

The administration's legal position has been undermined by what judges describe as "malevolence, incompetence and disregard of truth," forfeiting the traditional "presumption of regularity" accorded to government lawyers. Multiple judges have threatened to find administration attorneys in contempt of court.