Federal judges feel under siege by current political rhetoric

When the Supreme Court recently struck down President Trump's tariffs, he lashed out at two Justices he had nominated calling them fools and lapdogs. The president has frequently railed against judges when they rule against him. What often happens next is a barrage of violent threats from his followers against those judges. 

CBS News spoke with 26 federal judges – nine Democratic appointees, 17 Republican, both sitting and retired. The sitting judges told us they feel under siege. Most would not appear on camera, fearful for their safety. Judge John Coughenour – appointed by Ronald Reagan - is one of the few who would. He blocked President Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship. He wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Judge John Coughenour: My wife and I are at home. And the doorbell rings. And I go to the door. And there's, I think, five sheriff's deputies there with long rifles –

Bill Whitaker: And they show up with guns drawn?

Judge John Coughenour: Oh yeah. Yes, yes. Long guns, very intimidating guns. And they said to me, "Sir, could we see your wife?" And I said, "whatever for?" And they said, well, sir, we've had a report that you've murdered your wife."

It was a cruel hoax. The next day? A bomb threat. For John Coughenour, a federal district court judge in Washington state, it didn't end there.

Judge John Coughenour: There was a congressman that had a wanted poster. It just said Wanted in big letters at the top and then a picture of several of us. It said everything except "dead or alive".

His trouble started when President Trump signed an executive order to end the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship for infants born on U.S. soil to non-citizens. Judge Coughenour ruled it, quote, "blatantly unconstitutional." The threats poured in.

Judge John Coughenour: Some of it was very very ugly, and very threatening.

Bill Whitaker: Death threats?

Judge John Coughenour: Oh yes, yes dozens of em. Dozens if not hundreds.

Judge Coughenour told us threats come with the turf. He has sentenced an al Qaeda bomber and Montana militia members and needed round the clock protection. But he said he'd never had as many death threats as with the birthright citizenship case.

Judge Coughenour: I've been at this for 44 years. I have never encountered the hostility toward the judiciary that has existed in this country in the, the last year. And I don't think it's' because we're making bad decisions. I think it's because there are people who think that they can make a lot of political hay out of criticizing the federal judiciary.

President Trump (in 2025): "And also we cannot allow a handful of communist radical left judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws and assume the duties that belong solely to the president of the United States."

When President Trump lost a battle in court to deport migrants, he called the judge a lunatic. When immigration crackdowns were ruled illegal, he called the judges monsters. It's incendiary comments like that that have provoked a torrent of death threats. 

Our reporting found hundreds of threats were left on judges voicemails. This one after a judge ruled the president had violated the First Amendment:

Recording of threat: I hope your whole family and everybody you love is raped in front of you and has their heads cut off.

And this one after a judge ruled the president couldn't cut certain government benefits.

Recording of threat: I wish somebody would f****** assassinate your ass.

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