Judge says colleagues are worried about 'their safety and the safety of their families'

[Emile]

SIOUX FALLS — The leader of an association of federal judges did not hesitate Monday when asked about her colleagues’ top concern.
“I think every judge right now is concerned about their safety and the safety of their families,” said Judge Karen Schreier, speaking to the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Club at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance.

Schreier said judges across the country are facing “never-before-seen levels of threats” and intimidation, which she called “an attack on the rule of law itself.”

Schreier, who’s based at the federal courthouse in Sioux Falls, is the president of the 1,100-member Federal Judges Association. In May, she was appointed to a new national Judicial Security and Independence Task Force, created by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to address growing threats against federal judges and challenges to the judiciary’s independence.

Schreier cited an incident earlier this year when the sister of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was targeted with a bomb threat. The U.S. Marshals Service has logged 562 threats against federal judges so far this year. More than 100 threatening packages have been delivered to federal judges’ homes, Schreier said, “sending a not-so-subtle message that we know where you live.”

Read more at: https://southdakotasearchlight.com/briefs/judge-says-colleagues-are-worried-about-their-safety-and-the-safety-of-their-families/