Threats up against federal judges


Updated 7/26/2006 11:52 PM ET

Letter in response to this article

Activist judges and immunity have allowed our judges power no man or women should be able to wield without the checks and balances of a jury.  Greater threats against judges in general should be no surprise. Lower court judges and family court judges are acting outside their authority and destroying lives daily. This is especially true in family courts where our children, homes, property and income for up to 23 years is determined by judges who understand little about complex situations and will not take the time to find out. This system is completely broken and often a judge’s time limits create situation of great injustice.

The rush to judgment, unconstitutional acts and denial of due process is causing  great injustice. Their near total immunity has allowed them to do whatever they want, illegal or now.


"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

In family courts today judges assign custody on a whim without good cause. This is causing about 300 suicides of men per month today in the U.S. alone. This is more than 10 times the number of women as these ruling are sexist and designed to maximize child support orders because the state gets a large percentage of these funds in the form of federal incentives (kickbacks).

We have now created state governments that literally profit by separating children from their fathers!

These payments between branches of government circumvent the balance of power and check and balances of forefathers created and some even say are unconstitutional as a result.

This also creates a conflict of interest in every child support award of these judges as they get more funding when they separate children from their families.

The U.S. Supreme court says that parental rights can NOT be denied without "clear and convincing evidence" (a high legal standard) of harm to children. Therefore these judges have literally become kidnappers when they illegal award custody to one parent in divorce. This sexist behavior is, unfortunately, still standard in courts which are taking decades to adjust to the latest research and the role of active fathers in families today.

Is it any surprise some are fighting back in the only way they know how with threats and violence. The explosion in New York and many other recent stories are driven by these life ruining decision that judges make. This is at the cause of many disastrous and deadly stories but the press do not see the common root and reports the incident, not the common cause. This is the real story. Judges are ruining lives daily and until their power is limited threats, violence and damage to society will certainly continue to rise.

Threats against federal judges and other court employees have reached record numbers, the U.S. Marshals Service says.

The number of threats in fiscal year 2005 increased 63% from 2003. Marshals investigated 953 threats and inappropriate communications in 2005. Threats this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, are outpacing last year: Marshals have investigated 822 incidents.

"It seems like every few months there's some type of major threat to a judge," says U.S. Marshals Service Director John Clark. "It's very clear to me that we need to continue to be vigilant."

The Marshals Service, charged with protecting federal judges, prosecutors, jurors and other court employees, has tripled its number of threat investigators and analysts from eight to 25 to respond to the threats, says Donald Horton, chief inspector for the marshals' Office of Protective Intelligence.

A 24-hour threat analysis and intelligence center with new technology becomes fully operational in October, Clark says. "We're striving for faster, real-time analysis," he says.

"All threats can be evaluated within a 24-hour period if not instantly," Horton says.

He attributes the increase in threats to more litigation, more aggressive communication from people with complaints against judges, easier access to judges' information and improved reporting of threats.

Recent high-profile shootings have drawn national attention to judicial security and underscored weaknesses in judicial protection.

In February 2005, a man with a history of threatening letters and angry court filings broke into U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow's house in Chicago and killed her husband and mother. The man killed himself nine days later during a traffic stop in Wisconsin.

A year before the killings, a U.S. Justice Department inspector general's report criticized the marshals' threat assessment process as "untimely and of questionable validity."

The inspector general found that the marshals failed to meet their own time standards in more than 73% of the threat assessment cases.

Congress responded to the Lefkow murders by approving nearly $12 million to install security systems at judges' homes. Congress also is considering other security proposals, including tougher criminal penalties for people convicted of threatening judges.

State judges, who are not under the marshals' protection, also are vulnerable. In June, Washoe, Nev., family court Judge Chuck Weller was shot in court chambers.

Posted 7/26/2006 11:49 PM ET