Half the time, someone is dissatisfied with a judge’s ruling. Normal use is an occupation. But in the biting atmosphere of contemporary politics, there is a good chance that the disgruntled party will threaten the judge. In the last five years, the threats from federal judges have jumped 400% to more than 4,000 last year – many of them death threats, sometimes leading to violence. Judges are now violating tradition and appealing to lawmakers to provide more protection. One of the strongest voices is Federal Judge Esther Salas. This past July, she was at home in New Jersey, in the basement with her son Daniel, cleaning up after his 20th birthday party, when a man disguised as a FedEx driver pulled up outside..
Esther Salas: Danny turns around and he says, “Let’s talk. I like talking to you mom.” And at that exact moment, the doorbell rang. And before I could stop him, he was just shooting up the stairs. The next thing I hear is ‘tree’. It sounded just like a mini-bomb. And then I hear ‘no’. And then I hear “tree, tree, tree.” And I just shouted, “What’s going on?” When I got to the top, it was something no mother would ever have to see.
Daniel lay bleeding at the door; Mark, her husband, on his knees by his side. Daniel barely held on to life.
Esther Salas: I – I did not even know what to do. I remember picking up his shirt and seeing the bullet hole. You know, we shouted, “Daniel, hold on” and “Do not leave us.” And then I just, thinking about that day, realized that I had seen my only child disappear.
Daniel died on the way to the hospital. Mark is happy to be alive.
Bill Whitaker: How seriously was he injured?
Esther Salas: Mark was shot three times – in the right chest, left abdomen, in the arm.
They were a close-knit family and called themselves the Three Musketeers. Judge Salas told us that Daniel, a high school student, was the center of their universe. According to the FBI, it appears that Daniel tried to stop the gunman.
Bill Whitaker: When did you realize the attack was meant for you?
Esther Salas: It was first with the FBI debriefings. They looked at this matter inside and out and said to me, “Ma’am, you were the target. He wanted you.”
The shooter was Roy Den Hollander, a 72-year-old lawyer. He cherishes deep hatred for women and leaves behind a bitter manifesto. He accused Judge Salas of being a “lazy Latina” who dragged her feet for his case. The police found his body the next day, he shot himself. The FBI has discovered that he had killed another lawyer a week earlier. Then he went hunting for Judge Salas.
Esther Salas: He clearly knew where I lived. He knew my routes to work. He knew the church we attended. He had Daniel’s school. He knew baseball games. Just a full time job to me and my family.
Bill Whitaker: The information he got, all from legal sources?
Esther Salas: All open sources, they call it.
We met Judge Salas outside her home six months after the murder of Daniel. She was told that her husband needed further surgery. The house was sold. Twenty years of wonderful memories, she told us, and one that is disturbing.
Esther Salas in YouTube video: we live the worst nightmare of every parent and prepare to bury – bury our only child, Daniel.
Last August, in an extremely unusual move for a federal judge, Judge Salas made a personal appeal to lawmakers on YouTube.
Esther Salas in YouTube video: We may not be able to stop something like this from happening again, but we can make it difficult for those we target to track us down.
Since Daniel’s funeral, Judge Salas has become a crusader for federal law to shred judges’ personal information from the Internet. Her mission became more urgent when the FBI discovered a second box in New Jersey belonging to her son’s killer.
Bill Whitaker: What did they find? What was in the box?
Esther Salas: They found another gun, a Glock, more ammunition. But the most worrying thing they found was a manila folder with a work up on Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
Bill Whitaker: Sotomayor Supreme Court Justice?
Esther Salas: Yes. Cooling.
Bill Whitaker: What do you think when you find out that a Supreme Court justice was on his list?
Esther Salas: More than on his list, on his sights. They had her favorite restaurants, where she worked, her friends.
Tonight is the first time the plot is unveiled.
Esther Salas: Who knows what could have happened? But we must understand that judges are in danger. We need to understand that we are putting ourselves in great danger every day if we do our job. This fact must awaken us.
Judge Salas told us that she never dreamed she would harm her family when she was sworn in in 2011.
The last judicial security upgrade was 15 years ago – after Judge Joan Lefkow came home in Chicago one night and found her husband and mother shot dead by a disgruntled plaintiff.
The new legislation, to be passed by the Senate, is seeking more than $ 250 million for home security and another 1,000 deputy officials. This will erase a long list of personal data online – such as a home address, driver’s license and property tax records.
Bill Whitaker: You chose to be a judge. And if you become a public figure, do not you have to give up your personal details for the sake of liability?
Esther Salas: You were right, I chose to become a civil servant. And if someone has a problem with what I have decided in a particular case, he can appeal. If someone is upset, you know, the address of the court, it’s known to everyone. Come to the courthouse. But why do you have to come to my house?
We can not show you this, but U.S. soldiers now offer 24-hour security to Judge Salas. She told us judges are increasingly threatened online. Last year, there were 4,200 threats against federal judges. She read some of it to us.
Esther Salas: “We,” he quotes, “must start killing these corrupt politicians and judges and their families,” the quote ends. Another one: ‘The judge is a traitor and has a death sentence. ‘
Bill Whitaker: And that’s been since Daniel’s death?
Esther Salas: It’s been since Daniel’s murder in this very house. Another one just in Mississippi. Quote, “I’ll kill you. I just want to get the gun, and get down there and blow out all their brains.”
But perhaps no judge in the country feels more like senior U.S. District Judge James Robart.
Emotions were already high when Judge Robart temporarily blocked the first travel ban of former presidential trump card, excluding some Muslim travelers. Critics have posted his home phone and address online. But nothing prepared him for the tsunami of hatred when President Trump used his Twitter bullying pulpit to mock him as a ‘so-called judge’.
James Robart: If you call someone a so-called judge, you’re going to court. Maybe you did not even want to convey the message, but it is the message that has taken down 40 million Twitter followers, and you were never authorized to issue this decision.
Death threats flooded in. Then President Trump tweeted again.
Bill Whitaker: If I remember correctly, he also said to blame you if there was a terrorist attack on the country?
James Robart: People consider it somehow that I give permission for their families to be threatened. And then the tone for some of the messages changes to “you need to be stopped.”
Bill Whitaker: What did you think of that? When does the president attack you?
James Robart: I thought he had the right to attack my decision. I do not think that criticism of a judge is acceptable. I realize there is a dispute over. There’s no dispute about you starting to talk about “I’m going to kill you” or “I’m not going to hurt you”, or more importantly for me, “I’m going to hurt your family”. It’s over the line and can not be tolerated.
Judge Robart was bombarded with 40,000 messages. 1,100 were serious enough to investigate. There were so many death threats that U.S. marshals set up camp around the judge’s house.
James Robart: The idea that you need a dog who needs to sniff with a bomb to go to a restaurant before we can have lunch has an impact on you, but you should just try it. te pla.
Bill Whitaker: Did it actually happen?
James Robart: (team) Yes. If you want to know how to be really unpopular among restaurant owners, you need to show up with your dog barking around the restaurant. And a number of American marshals that are striking.
Bill Whitaker: You’re laughing now, but I suppose you did not see the humor in this back then?
James Robart: (sighs) No, I have not.
Then federal investigators discovered something more ominous. Thousands of threats that appear to be from Americans – were actually from Russia, part of a long game by Vladimir Putin to shatter American democracy.
Suzanne Spaulding: If Putin can undermine a significant part of the population’s willingness to accept a court ruling, he could wreak havoc in this country.
Suzanne Spaulding has led the largest cyber security operations for both the Democratic and Republican governments. She told us that Russia is undermining the justice system by inciting some Americans’ suspicion that judges are biased.
Bill Whitaker: What did Judge Robart do to put himself in Russia’s crosshairs?
Suzanne Spaulding: They attacked him, his decision reflecting his personal political preferences, as opposed to following the law. And this leads people to conclude that it is appropriate to make threats of violence. And as we have seen in the tragic case of Judge Salas, to actually carry out an attack of violence.
Bill Whitaker: How big a threat do you think it is?
Suzanne Spaulding: You know, I think we got a taste of it on January 6th.
Spaulding has told us that since the siege of the Capitol, there has been more pressure on law enforcement to determine what online threats can turn into physical attacks. Take the example of an Alabama man who answered the online call with a truckload of weapons and a hand-scribbled hit list – a second from above, a judge in Indiana.
Bill Whitaker: How do you respond to people who would say that what I say online, even if it’s aggressive, is my first amendment?
Suzanne Spaulding: So you have the first right to edit your opinion, even if it’s an unpopular opinion. But threats of violence, incitement to violence, these are things that law enforcers can look at legally, especially if it is against our civil servants.
Judge Salas lives with the threats. But when the court reopened after the pandemic, she told us Daniel wanted her to continue.
Bill Whitaker: Would you be worried if you re-entered this courtroom?
Esther Salas: No, we have been changed forever. You know, Mark and I are – unfortunately, different people today. But what I’m doing on the couch, no, it’s not – I am – it’s not going to change. I will not let Mr Hollander take it away from me – my integrity, my work ethic and my pride. No. He will not take it.
Produced by Heather Abbott. Co-producer, LaCrai Mitchell. Broadcast, Emilio Almonte. Edited by Craig Crawford.