Federal judges presiding over major cases involving the Trump administration on Thursday denounced threats they’ve faced as tensions between the White House and judiciary continue to mount. 

U.S. District Judges John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island and John Coughenour of the Western District of Washington said during a virtual event that they have endured campaigns of harassment since taking on the prominent cases. 

The judges’ public remarks condemning the violent threats and intimidation they’ve faced are a rare occurrence, as sitting judges often remain mum amid criticism to avoid appearing biased. 

But the pair said the time had come to speak out, as the independence of the judiciary comes under increasing attacks. 

“We need a call to action in this country from our lawyers and from our judges to say, ‘Not in this country, not on our watch,’” Coughenour said.  

Coughenour in February indefinitely blocked President Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, while McConnell in January blocked the administration’s federal aid freeze. 

McConnell said his court has received more than 400 “vile, threatening, horrible” voicemails since then. One stood out from them all. 

In that expletive-laden voicemail, an unnamed individual called for McConnell to be imprisoned and wished the judge would be assassinated. It said, “we’re going to come for him.” 

“I’ve been on the bench almost 15 years, and I must say, it’s the one time that actually shook my faith in the judicial system and the rule of law,” McConnell said, adding that he’s so far faced six credible death threats on top of other threats to him and his family. 

Coughenour said that he and his wife were swatted, causing law enforcement to show up at his home with weapons drawn after a local sheriff’s office received a call that he had murdered her.  

He said he would “endure” the threats and intimidation efforts because he signed up to be a judge but emphasized that his family did not, calling it “just wrong” that they’ve been targeted, as well.  

“It’s just been stunning to me how much damage has been done to the reputation of our judiciary because some political actors think that they can gain some advantage by attacking the independence of the judiciary and threatening the rule of law,” Coughenour said. 

It’s not just judges overseeing Trump administration cases who have received threats. 

U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, whose son, Daniel, was killed in 2020 by a lawyer who had once appeared before her, spurring her advocacy for better protections for judges, said at a legal forum last month that she’s tracked 408 threats against judges this year.  

On Thursday, Salas emotionally recounted how both federal and state judges have had pizzas they did not order delivered to their homes in Daniel’s name an intimidation tactic meant to show that the judges’ home addresses are known to potentially bad actors. 

McConnell said he had received one such pizza, which ultimately spurred his decision to speak out.  

Another judge on the call, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik of the Western District of Washington, said he and two of his adult children who do not live with him also received pizzas in Daniel’s name after he spoke out against threats in news media. 

“Everything that Danny stands for is love and light, and to hear people using it as a weapon weaponizing his name to inflict fear on Judge McConnell and Judge Laznik and Judge Lasnik’s kids,” Salas said, trailing off. 

Salas slammed “political leaders” for “fanning these flames” by attacking judges when they disagree with their rulings. Judges are used to being appealed to higher courts when parties think they’ve ruled incorrectly, she said, but the verbal attacks have gone too far. 

“What they’re doing when they do that irresponsible rhetoric is they are inviting people to do us harm,” Salas said. 

As more than 300 challenges to Trump’s second-term agenda move through the courts, the president and his allies have ramped up attacks against judges. 

His administration has called individual judges “activists” and “deranged,” while his allies in Congress have filed judicial misconduct complaints and even impeachment papers for some judges who have ruled against Trump, including McConnell. 

The attacks come as threats against public officials more generally are also sharply on the rise.

“I’m not looking for pity. I’m not looking for sympathy,” McConnell said. “I want to be able to just do my job again.”