Three federal judges today urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to help provide better security for all federal judges, both inside and away from their courthouses. Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow’s testimony represented her first public comments since the February murders of her husband and mother.

     “I am here today because I believe it is important to speak to this body, which has the power to effect much-needed changes in the manner in which the federal Judiciary is protected from assassination and lesser attacks,” said Lefkow, a U.S. district judge from Chicago who was an invited witness.

      Noting that the murders of her two family members made five assassinations within the federal Judiciary since 1975, Lefkow said, “Something is wrong in the judicial protection arena. . . . Without fearless judges, where are we as a nation? We need your leadership in this area, and the stakes are profound.”

      Judge Jane Roth (3rd Cir.) who chairs the Security and Facilities Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, said it seems “that the Marshals Service never gets the resources it needs to get the job done.” “The primary statutory duty of the Marshals Service is the protection of the Judiciary,” Roth said in testimony given to the committee. “Yet, time and time again we have found that the Service does not have the resources necessary to fulfill this obligation.”

      Chief Magistrate Judge Samuel Alba of Salt Lake City told the committee of the threat against him from a white supremacist criminal organization, his concerns for the safety of his family, and the lack of uniformity in Marshals Service threat-assessment policy.

      After his request for a temporary home alarm system was denied by the Marshals Service, a U.S. magistrate judge in a different district received a temporary home security system after the marshals detected a series of signs that he might be targeted, but no overt threat, Alba said.

     “I ask that you help federal judges be safe and secure, both at the courthouse and the residence, by providing oversight — so that the Marshals Service will have the resources and staff necessary to fully provide the judicial protection for which they are statutorily responsible,” he said in his testimony.

     In her testimony, Roth asked the Judiciary Committee to support the following initiatives:

• A legislative proposal that would require consultation and coordination between the Judiciary and the Director of the U.S. Marshals Service regarding security requirements. They jointly would submit to Congress, 180 days after enactment, a report on the Judiciary’s security needs and how those needs will be addressed.
• Legislation that would establish significantly greater penalties for the recording of malicious liens against federal judges.
• Firearms training for judges.
• Legislation that would provide emergency authority to conduct court proceedings outside the territorial jurisdiction of courts.
• Legislation that would provide permanent authorization to redact information from financial disclosure reports that could endanger the filer.

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