“DOJ’s No. 2 Official Asks Lawyers to Join ‘War’ Against Judges“

Suzanne Monyak reported that DOJ’s No. 2 Official Asks Lawyers to Join ‘War’ Against Judges (Nov. 7, 2025).

The article states that:

Todd Blanche, second-in-command at the Justice Department, described a “war” against the federal judiciary and called on young conservative lawyers in the audience to join the fight against so-called “activist judges.”

“It’s a war, man,” Blanche, the deputy attorney general, told judges and lawyers Friday at a Federalist Society event in Washington, before describing instances where the government has ping-ponged between lower and appellate courts. “It’s happening over and over and over again.”

Id.

Blanche reportedly said:

“It’s hard to get the media, it’s hard to get the American people to focus on what a travesty it is when you have an individual judge be able to stop an entire operation or an entire administrative policy that’s constitutional and allowed just because he or she chooses to do so. So, it’s a war.”

Criticizing activist bar associations, Blanch reportedly said: “We’re going to do everything we can to take these activist bars, and DC is right at the top—is at the top—out of the picture….”

If the article accurately describes the comments, to say that having DOJ declare that it will take the DC Bar (of which I am a member) “out of the picture,” after declaring “war” on Judges is beyond disturbing.

There still is a First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  And Judges are operating under Art. III of that Constitution. It’s called “separation of powers.”

I have written a number of blogs on the need for all of us to protect the judiciary. Intemperate language leads directly to things like “Pizzas Sent to Judges’ Homes in Name of Judge’s Murdered Son” (Apr. 17, 2025).

The United States unsuccessfully sued every federal judge in the District of Maryland. Lawsuit Against Federal Judges Dismissed – “[T]hese are not normal times.” (Aug. 26, 2025).

See generally:

• Another Judicial Impeachment Effort?  What Would Justice Rehnquist Say? – E-Discovery LLC (Jul. 9, 2025)
• Protecting the Judiciary – Bolch Judicial Institute(Mar. 23, 2025)
• “Pizzas Sent to Judges’ Homes in Name of Judge’s Murdered Son”(Apr. 17, 2025)
• Protecting the Judiciary – Again
• Protecting the Judiciary Against This Ill-Advised “Impeachathon”
• Protecting the Judiciary –  Article of Impeachment:  “It’s Déjà vu All Over Again”[1]
• Protecting the Judiciary From Another Dangerous, Fact-Free Impeachment Demand
• Protecting the Judiciary and the Rule of Law – Frivolous Articles to Impeach Federal Judge Filed
• Protecting the Judiciary and the Rule of Law
• Maryland’s Protection of the Judiciary(Apr. 10, 2024);
• American Bar Association Statement on Threats Against the Judiciary(Apr. 8, 2024);
• Maryland Bills to Protect Judges and Their Children(Feb. 23, 2024);
• I Hear Crickets From the American Bar Association About Threats Against Colorado Justices(Jan. 27, 2024);
• Judge Paul Grimm: The Judiciary is Under Attack.  Lawyers Need to Defend It(Oct. 24, 2023); and,
• Threats Against the Colorado Supreme Court Must Be Called Out(Dec. 23, 2023).
• Maryland Passes “Watered-Down Judicial Security Bill” (Apr. 12, 2025)
• Judicial Conference of the U.S. – Inadequate Funding for Security(Apr. 23, 2025).

See also:

• Why Impeachment Threats Against Judges Will Fail: Legal Insight(Bloomberg Mar. 6, 2025);
• Letter from Paul W. Grimm Regarding Threats and Attacks on Judges(Feb. 10, 2025); and,
• The Judiciary Is Under Attack. Lawyers Have a Duty to Defend It(Bloomberg Law Oct. 24, 2023).

UPDATED: Nov. 10, 2025