FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Letter urges Congress to strengthen protections for federal judges, their families, and courthouse personnel
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan coalition of 47 attorneys general today sent a letter to congressional leaders urging increased funding for the security of the federal judiciary. The letter cites growing threats to federal judges, their families, and courthouse personnel, and calls for additional resources to address critical security needs at federal courthouses nationwide. The coalition was led by attorneys general from Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
The letter states that funding for the Judiciary’s Court Security program has been subject to a “hard freeze” for two consecutive years, leaving inadequate resources to meet essential security needs at federal courthouses. The funding shortfall affects court security officer salaries, visual and physical monitoring systems, and other courthouse security infrastructure.
The attorneys general also urge Congress to provide additional resources for the Judiciary’s Vulnerability Management Program (VMP), which implements the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act. The Act, passed in 2022 with bipartisan support, honors Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, who was killed in his home in 2020 during an attempted attack on Judge Salas. The law helps protect federal judges and their family members by limiting the public disclosure of personally identifiable information and providing mechanisms for removing such information from websites and databases.
The letter notes that U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. highlighted increasing threats to the judiciary in his 2024 year-end report. According to the letter, those concerns continued into 2025, with more than 100 judges nationwide reporting that they had been targeted through “doxxing” incidents involving unsolicited deliveries sent to their homes. Some of those incidents involved deliveries placed in the name of Daniel Anderl.
The letter was led by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey.
In addition to the lead states, the letter was signed by attorneys general representing Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
A copy of the letter is available here.
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The National Association of Attorneys General is a nonpartisan organization of the attorneys general of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. NAAG provides a forum for exchanging knowledge, experiences, and insights on legal and law enforcement issues, and fosters bipartisan collaboration among its members to address common challenges and advance the rule of law. For more information, please visit NAAG’s website.
