Title 28 — Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-73

§5932 FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

Title 28 › Part PART III— - COURT OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES › § 5932

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

It requires stronger security and more tools to protect federal judges and their immediate family. Congress found that judges do important work interpreting the Constitution, but threats against them have risen a lot. Easy online access and social media make it easier for people to find judges’ homes and family information. Threats have included violent language, calls for mobs, and even a murder attempt on a Supreme Court justice. Reports of threats rose from 926 in 2015 to approximately 4,449 in 2019. Some judges or their families have been attacked, including the 2005 murder of Judge Joan Lefkow’s family and the July 19, 2020 attack on Judge Esther Salas’ home that killed her son Daniel Anderl, 20, and seriously wounded her husband Mark Anderl. The goal is to make judges, including senior, recalled, or retired judges, and their immediate families safer so judges can do their jobs without fear of personal revenge.

Full Legal Text

Title 28, §5932

Judiciary and Judicial Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

“(a)Congress finds the following:

“(1)Members of the Federal judiciary perform the important function of interpreting the Constitution of the United States and administering justice in a fair and impartial manner.

“(2)In recent years, partially as a result of the rise in the use of social media and online access to information, members of the Federal judiciary have been exposed to an increased number of personal threats in connection to their role. The ease of access to free or inexpensive sources of covered information has considerably lowered the effort required for malicious actors to discover where individuals live and where they spend leisure hours and to find information about their family members. Such threats have included calling a judge a traitor with references to mass shootings and serial killings, a murder attempt on a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, calling for an ‘angry mob’ to gather outside a home of a judge and, in reference to a judge on the court of appeals of the United States, stating how easy it would be to ‘get them’.

“(3)Between 2015 and 2019, threats and other inappropriate communications against Federal judges and other judiciary personnel increased from 926 in 2015 to approximately 4,449 in 2019.

“(4)Over the past decade, several members of the Federal judiciary have experienced acts of violence against themselves or a family member in connection to their Federal judiciary role, including the murder in 2005 of the family of Joan Lefkow, a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

“(5)On Sunday July 19, 2020, an assailant went to the home of Esther Salas, a judge for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, impersonating a package delivery driver, opening fire upon arrival, and killing Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old only son of Judge Salas, and seriously wounding Mark Anderl, her husband.

“(6)In the aftermath of the recent tragedy that occurred to Judge Salas and in response to the continuous rise of threats against members of the Federal judiciary, there is an immediate need for enhanced security procedures and increased availability of tools to protect Federal judges and their families.

“(b)The purpose of this subtitle is to improve the safety and security of Federal judges, including senior, recalled, or retired Federal judges, and their immediate family members to ensure Federal judges are able to administer justice fairly without fear of personal reprisal from individuals affected by the decisions they make in the course of carrying out their public duties.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

28 U.S.C. § 5932

Title 28 — Judiciary and Judicial Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73