A group of 10 Florida judges and court officials have been appointed to serve on a workgroup that will study threats against judges and staff and make security recommendations.
Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz signed an administrative order Monday, creating the Workgroup on Judicial Security. The group will submit its findings and recommendations “on threat reduction, threat detection, and threat response,” the order said.
Threats against judges at all levels of the court system have been on the rise for years. The administrative order said the number of verified threats against federal judges “has doubled from historic patterns” while 56% of state judges who responded in a recent survey said they had been threatened.
The Marshals Service investigated more than 800 threats and potential threats against sitting federal judges, court staff and other people protected under the agency in fiscal year 2024, according to the agency’s data.
In his 2024 year-end report, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts said the number of “hostile threats and communications” against judges has more than tripled in the last 10 years, citing U.S. Marshals Service statistics. Federal authorities have investigated over 1,000 serious threats against federal judges in the past five years.
Earlier this year, a Palm Beach County judge received threats from an inmate serving a prison sentence for second-degree murder whose plea agreement she signed off on. Last year, a South Florida man was charged with threatening to shoot the Broward County judge handling his misdemeanor case.
State judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were murdered in their homes in 2022 and 2023, Roberts wrote in his report, noting both were targeted attacks “following an adverse ruling” from the judges.
In recent weeks, Tesla CEO and head of the new Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, Vice President JD Vance and others in President Donald Trump’s circle have publicly criticized and questioned the judicial system’s authority in the wake of orders from federal judges that weren’t in the administration’s favor, the Associated Press reported.
Trump himself posted on X Friday criticizing “Radical Left Judges” and judicial authority, writing in part, “STOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!”
Earlier the same day, a federal judge said he would “get to the bottom” of whether the administration defied his order against deportation flights, AP reported.
Reuters reported earlier this month that judges in exclusive interviews “revealed mounting alarm over their physical security and, in some cases, a rise in violent threats in recent weeks.”
The Florida Supreme Court workgroup will gather information on the “breadth and nature of security incidents” against judges and court staff, review how to reduce risks judges face by personal information being released, “evaluate the need for statewide data collection,” identify how judges and staff should best reduce and respond to threats and propose any changes to current practices and policies if need be, according to the administrative order.
Palm Beach County Court Judge M. Katherine Mullinax is among those appointed to the group, along with Miami-Dade County Judge Jason Emilios Dimitris and Nushin G. Sayfie, Chief Judge of Miami-Dade County’s judicial circuit.
The group will submit a final report on findings and recommendations by the end of May 2026. Those appointed will serve on the group until October 2026.
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