Washington state's judges say threats against them are at an all-time high

Mike Carter, The Seattle Times on Mar 9, 2026

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SEATTLE — The rule of law is protected by a thin, black-robed line, and it’s in trouble.

That’s according to experienced judges in Washington, who say threats against the judiciary are at an all-time high, fed by a presidential administration that vilifies dissent and scoffs at the separation of powers.

A trio of judges from both sides of the Cascades spoke on the issue at a town hall Wednesday night at the offices of the law firm K&L Gates, where security to attend was tighter than that in many Washington courthouses.

In Stevens County, for instance, there are no deputies or marshals to protect judges. If something amiss happens in a courtroom, the judge has to call 911. The same holds true in Adams County.

In Spokane County, a single deputy is responsible for the security of 13 judges, who all use the same parking area, making them easy to isolate.

In many other counties, the security measures in courthouses, including cameras, alarms, X-ray scanners and lockers for weapons, are privately funded through donations via the nonprofit Foundation for Washington State Courts.

“Judges can’t defend themselves,” said King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Robertson, who sits on the court’s security committee. Her talk on judicial independence and security was underscored by a PowerPoint presentation containing excerpts from obscene, horrific and mostly unprintable threats received by judges there. It’s worse now than ever before, she said.

The judiciary is the most vulnerable of the three branches of government, she said. Verbal attacks on the judiciary, many from the administration of President Donald Trump, have only made matters worse. Among the common forms of judicial harassment: threatening emails, liens placed on homes and property, after-hours calls and midnight text messages, online publication of contact information for the judge or family members, and surreptitious photographs of them outside court.

Another presenter, U.S. District Senior Judge Robert Lasnik, acknowledged he and his children have received unsolicited pizza deliveries in the name of Daniel Salas, the murdered son of a federal judge in New Jersey. “The message was, ‘We know where you live,’ ” Lasnik said.

Spokane County Judge Breean Beggs, who handles contentious family law matters, said his office has posters of litigants or their family members who have made threats. He said one wealthy litigant “with hundreds of thousands of dollars” who is in jail put out word he wanted to hire a hit man.

While courtroom visitors and attorneys are screened for firearms, “I’m more concerned about them coming over the bench” to attack him, he said, joking that his court reporter is the only thing that stands in the way to prevent that from happening.

And it wasn’t just his time as a judge. Beggs is a former Spokane City Council president who said he had disgruntled citizens stand on the sidewalk outside his home. “You get used to it,” he said.

Lasnik, the federal judge, argued for a strong, safe and independent judiciary, free from executive pressures. He reminded the audience that among the “sins” outlined against King George III in the Declaration of Independence were his blocking of the establishment of a fair judiciary, and that he made judges dependent on him for their jobs and salaries.

“Our president would love to force us ... or slash our salaries,” said Lasnik, a Clinton appointee. “We don’t have the power of the sword ... or the purse.”

“But we do have the tradition that presidents do follow Supreme Court rulings,” he said.

Lasnik noted that the judiciary has come under fire at other times in U.S. history — particularly during the McCarthy communist witch hunts in the 1950s, and when some Southern states flouted U.S. Supreme Court rulings on desegregation. In those instances, it was the Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy who sent in National Guard troops to ensure the rule of law was followed.

The town hall was held in the wake of an investigation into threats against the judiciary that aired on ”60 Minutes,” featuring Seattle-based U.S. District Court Senior Judge John Coughenour, who spoke about threats he received after ruling against Trump’s attempt to ban “birthright citizenship,” which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Coughenour, who has been on the federal bench for 44 years, called the effort “blatantly unconstitutional,” leading to what the judge described as a deluge of “dozens, if not hundreds” of threats against his life, some of them “very, very ugly.”

Shortly after the decision, Coughenour said he answered the door at this home to find five heavily armed King County sheriff’s deputies on his porch asking to speak to his wife. They explained they were investigating a report that he had murdered her.

He also said he was aware of a congressman who had a “wanted poster” featuring several jurists who had struck down or challenged Trump executive orders. “It said everything except, ‘Dead or Alive,’ ” Coughenour told “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker.