BILL WHITAKER:
00:01:26
It was a cruel hoax-- the next day, a bomb threat. For John Coughenour, a federal district court judge in Washington State, it didn't end there.
JOHN COUGHENOUR:
00:01:35
There was a congressman that had a Wanted poster. It said, "wanted" in big letters at the top, and then a picture of several of us. It said everything except "dead or alive."
BILL WHITAKER:
00:01:48
His troubles started when President Trump signed an executive order to end the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship for infants born on US soil to noncitizens. Judge Coughenour ruled it, quote, "blatantly unconstitutional." The threats poured in. Some of it was very, very ugly and very threatening. Death threats? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, dozens of them-- dozens if not hundreds.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:02:17
Judge Coughenour told us threats come with the turf. He has sentenced an Al-Qaeda bomber and Montana militia members and needed round-the-clock protection. But he said he'd never had as many death threats as with the birthright citizenship case. I've been at this for 44 years. I have never encountered the hostility toward the judiciary that has existed in this country in the last year. And I don't think it's because we're making bad decisions. I think it's because there are people who think that they can make a lot of political hay out of criticizing the federal judiciary. And also, we cannot allow a handful of Communist, radical-left judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws and assume the duties that belong solely to the president of the United States.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:03:09
When President Trump lost a battle in court to deport migrants, he called the judge a "lunatic." When immigration crackdowns were ruled illegal, he called the judges "monsters." Its incendiary comments like that that have provoked a torrent of death threats. Our reporting found hundreds of threats were left on judges' voicemails, this one after a judge ruled the president had violated the First Amendment. CALLER 1 (ON VOICEMAIL): I hope your whole family and everybody you love is raped in front of you and has their heads cut off.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:03:41
And this one after a judge ruled the president couldn't cut certain government benefits. CALLER 2 (ON VOICEMAIL): And I wish somebody would [BLEEP] assassinate your ass.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:03:50
It's a volcano of vitriol. CALLER 3 (ON VOICEMAIL): I double-dare you to try to put charges on Donald J. Trump, you son of a bitch.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:03:59
It falls to the US marshals to pinpoint the verbal threats that might lead to physical violence. Judges told us the marshals are overwhelmed. Last year, 400 federal judges were targets of serious threats, a 78% jump in four years. In very plain English, if we're not careful, we're going to get a judge killed. It's just that stark. It's that serious. It's that serious.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:04:28
Judge John Jones is a retired federal judge from Pennsylvania, a George W. Bush appointee. He and 55 other retired judges were so concerned, they formed a bipartisan group to lobby the White House to stop demonizing judges. This is such a toxic environment where people are taking arms and can identify where a judge lives, can strikeout against that judge or the judge's family members. So when President Trump attacks judges as "rogue, deranged, corrupt," what do you think he's doing and why? I think that he's attempting to delegitimize the federal courts. Why would he do that? What's the benefit to him? It's a presidency sort of on steroids. And you have a very dormant, I think, United States Congress and a president who means to really say what the law is. Well, civics taught me that Congress makes the law and the president faithfully executes the laws of the country. We've turned that on its head right now. OK, we'll sign right here, right?
BILL WHITAKER:
00:05:40
Judge Jones told us this White House is testing the bounds of presidential power. [CROWD CHANTING] Today, the Trump administration is facing 600 lawsuits contesting its agenda, from immigration to job cuts. Judges are caught squarely in the crossfire. As a judge who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and defend the rule of law, I have a duty to call this out. That's why I'm talking to you.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:06:09
Judge Esther Salas is a federal district court judge in New Jersey. A Barack Obama appointee, she has become a leading voice against the personal attacks on judges, which has made her the target of death threats. She knows the stakes. In 2020, a failed litigant came to her front door, shot her son Daniel dead, and wounded her husband Mark. It was not driven by politics, but she fears today's inflammatory rhetoric makes such horrors more likely. I'm more concerned right now than I was after my only child was murdered. Why? Because I think that the attacks against the judiciary are only getting worse. What I'm seeing now is far different than what I've seen in the past. This is coming from our national leader on down.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:07:05
Judge Salas told us, vilifying judges is eroding trust in the courts. If you disagree with a ruling that we make, appeal us. If you disagree with a sentence we render, appeal us. The answer is not to dehumanize us. And that has been, I think, the act of agenda as of late. I feel like sometimes our political leaders are playing Russian roulette with our lives. Do you think the rhetoric emboldens people? I do. I think it's dangerous.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:07:44
In a statement, the White House said, "As a survivor of two assassination attempts, no one understands the dangers of political violence more than President Trump." It went on to accuse the judiciary of brazen defiance with its unlawful rulings. These activist judges--
BILL WHITAKER:
00:08:03
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called it "a war." We are routinely getting stays and getting reversals because of local judges just not following the law-- full stop. And it's the same judges-- or not the same judges, but there's a group of judges that are repeat players. And that's obviously not by happenstance. That's intentional. And it's a war, man.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:08:29
Todd Blanche declined our request for an interview. In a statement to us, he said, "Some judges continue to issue overbroad and even unreasoned injunctions." But adding, "Threats and intimidation of federal officials is unlawful." Judge John Coughenour told us, the Constitution is a judge's North Star. So to someone who says that you are a political agent in trying to thwart the goals of the president, you would say? I would say, you don't understand what we do. We apply the Constitution. For the last 250 years in this country, it's been the judges that say this is either constitutional or it isn't. If nobody's going to make that decision and nobody's going to enforce the Constitution, it becomes like the Constitution of Russia.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:09:23
The threats aren't just coming from the right. In 2020, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would, quote, "pay the price for restricting abortion." He later apologized. In 2022, a would-be assassin was arrested for trying to kill Justice Kavanaugh at his home. But Judge Jones, a Republican appointee, told us the violent language of the right has no match. The national rhetoric from both sides has probably gotten worse over time. However, I would not concede that the Democratic Party or that Democratic officeholders have conducted themselves in any way that's similar to what this administration is doing with respect to the federal judiciary. There's simply no evidence of that.
RON ZAYAS:
00:10:15
And when you look at the database, it's the names of addresses of hundreds of elected officials and judges.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:10:21
Ron Zayas is the CEO of Ironwall, a company that scrubs judges' personal data from the web. So here's another threat that we have toward a judge.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:10:30
Zayas told us, in 14 years, he has never seen as many violent threats as today. You know, if you broadcast that message to a million people, you just need one to act on it. And that's the terrifying part that judges are having to deal with today.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:10:47
Zayas also combs through the dark web-- look at the gallows, my god-- a criminal haven on the internet where anonymous threat actors try to cause real-world harm. These days, Zayas is worried about a new type of threat. The threat seems to be, you ruled against me, and I want to kill you. Now the kind of threats we're seeing, there's a whole other sphere of saying, I want to influence what you do. It's mob mentality. They want to threaten you so that you make the right decision.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:11:17
The marshals are also investigating a striking new form of intimidation-- hundreds of unsolicited pizzas sent to judges and their children across the country, an innocuous delivery with an ominous message. We know where you live. We know where your children live. And do you want to end up like Judge Salas's son?
BILL WHITAKER:
00:11:41
At least 20 were sent to homes in the name of Judge Salas's late son. The order form had my murdered son's name on it. They're weaponizing my baby boy. They're weaponizing Daniel's name to inflict fear on judges. I know that's shocking. But it must be so, so painful. Oh, you know, that one took me. And you add to that for flavor, that I have yet to see the attorney general or the deputy attorney general stand at a podium and denounce these forms of intimidation.
BILL WHITAKER:
00:12:24
Attorney General Pam Bondi also declined our request for an interview. Judge Salas, among many others, told us, the rule of law is at stake. I sit here as Daniel's mom. I sit here as a woman who lost her only child. Mark and I have been to hell and back. And when I see that kind of irresponsible behavior coming from our political leaders and people in power, it makes me sad. And it makes me very worried because I worry for our democracy. I really do. [STOPWATCH TICKING]
