Slate Daily Feed Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - The “Civility” Problem for Judges
May 9, 2026
Robert S. Lasnik, a longtime federal judge who speaks on judicial independence, and Jeremy Fogel, former U.S. district judge and judicial-institute leader, discuss rising threats to judges and their families. They talk about how social media and high-level rhetoric amplify danger. They debate judges’ silence, ethics rules, security steps, and what civility should actually mean in the courts.
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Social Media Supercharges Threats Against Judges
- Threats against judges today combine volume, intensity, and social media amplification, making them qualitatively different than past isolated incidents.
- Jeremy Fogel contrasts his prior experience of hundreds of nasty letters with today's viral, credible death threats and swatting that force marshals and relocations.
Executive Rhetoric Makes This Moment Dangerous
- The novel danger now is that hostile rhetoric and impeachment threats come from the executive branch and Department of Justice.
- Robert S. Lasnik warns that attacks from a president or attorney general break historical patterns and escalate risks to judicial independence.
Undermining Courts Is An Authoritarian Playbook
- Authoritarians systematically target judiciaries to seize power by controlling appointments, removals, and salaries.
- Lasnik cites Turkey, Poland, and Hungary where firing or sidelining judges enabled executive consolidation of authority.