Judges overseeing Trump admin cases claim to have faced harassment

A pair of federal judges handling high-profile cases involving the Trump administration's policies stated Thursday that they have received threats as the White House increasingly rails against what it calls a "judicial coup" of activist judges blocking the president's moves for what is says are political reasons.

Though the Supreme Court intervened to narrow the scope of several nationwide injunctions involving birthright citizenship, at least some judges have opted to grant sweeping class-action status as a work around and the administration is increasingly vocal about what it deems to be judicial "lawlessness."

Rhode Island District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. and Western Washington District Judge John Coughenour on Thursday urged the nation to reject the harassment of judges in a public event. Both issued injunctions on Trump policies.

“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, according to The Hill.

“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 added. “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."

Harassment of judges is not new, however. Neither is it confined to the Trump administration's current frustrations and public comments. In 2022, after a high-profile leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision suggesting the judges would overturn the right to an abortion, Supreme Court justices faced protests at their homes.

Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh even became the subject of an assassination attempt.