Threats Against the Colorado Supreme Court Must Be Called Out

The Hon. Paul W. Grimm (ret.) recently wrote an OpEd stating that the Legal Profession Must ‘Speak Out’ Against Unfair Attacks (duke.edu)(Oct. 24, 2023).   Judge Grimm called for members of the legal profession to defend judges “now, and with a renewed sense of urgency.”

NBC reported that Colorado justices face flood of threats after disqualifying Trump from the ballot (nbcnews.com)(R. J. Reilly, Dec. 20, 2023).  NBC wrote that:

Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that conducts public interest research, identified “significant violent rhetoric” against the justices…. ” … “This ends when we kill these f–kers,” a user wrote….

ABC reported FBI looking into surge in threats against Colorado justices who ruled Trump can’t be on primary ballot – ABC News (go.com)(P. Thomas, et al., Dec. 21, 2023).

CBS wrote Colorado Supreme Court justices getting violent threats after their ruling against Trump, report says – CBS News (J. Rosen, et al., Dec. 21, 2023).  “Posts have included calls for the justices … to be killed by gunfire, hanging or bombs….”

I don’t care if you agree with the Colorado decision or not.  I don’t care who you will vote for, or whether you will vote, when it comes to this issue.

Those who threatened the Colorado Justices need to be called out, at a minimum, and as Judge Grimm notes, the organized Bar needs to speak up.

Maryland Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson was recently killed in his driveway.   See, e.g., Judge Paul Grimm: The Judiciary is Under Attack.  Lawyers Need to Defend It.  As a result Maryland Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Fader announced a new security task force aimed at protecting Maryland judges – CBS Baltimore (cbsnews.com)(C. Forebeck, Dec. 12, 2023).  New legislation is being considered. K. Ryan, Safety for judges to be top priority, according to Maryland lawmaker – Maryland Matters (Oct. 27, 2023).  The bill “would require anyone who posted a judge’s address on the internet to remove that information within 72 hours.”  Id.[1]

CBS reports that: “The U.S. Marshals Service reported a 387 percent increase in threats from 2015 to 2021.”

The American Bar Association has said that it will respond “to unjust criticism of the judiciary….”  Members of the Committee on the American Judicial System (americanbar.org). The merits of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision are irrelevant.  Violent threats against Judges cannot be tolerated.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.”[2]

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[1] That bill has been opposed.  See discussion in R. Santini and E. Gollogy, Judges must be kept safe (baltimoresun.com).  Those authors are respectively, president-elect of the Maryland State Bar Association and president of the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.  They wrote: “In 2022 alone, the District Court security team assisted local law enforcement with seven credible threats to district court judges across the state. In addition, in 2022, two Baltimore County District Courthouses were attacked with gunshots and Molotov cocktails.”

[2] “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” a Quote Falsely Attributed to Edmund Burke | Open Culture.