Agency data show security incidents on pace to climb again this year
The two studies, written by legal scholars at New York University, the University of California, Berkeley and the Brennan Center for Justice, draw on detailed testimony from dozens of federal judges. Several of those judges spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Together the studies present what the researchers describe as a chilling portrait of a judicial branch under extreme stress. The judges interviewed reported heightened anxiety about their own safety and that of their families.
In one account, an unnamed federal judge acknowledged considering an alternative ruling to avoid vitriol that could endanger the judge’s family. The scholars said other jurists interviewed for the studies also spoke only anonymously.
The accounts build on data published in March by the agency that administers the U.S. court system. That report found that “security incidents of significant concern” rose 57% in the year that ended in September 2025, and that such incidents were on pace to climb again this year.
While some federal judges have previously spoken publicly about the threats they face, the new studies are notable for the depth of testimony they compile from sitting jurists who have remained silent. The reports document the practical adaptations federal judges have made — varying their commutes, hiring private security and installing panic buttons in their homes — to manage the heightened threat environment.