Women judges see rising threats to their work — and clear paths to defusing them

Candice Norwood

Reporter

Published

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Federal judges rarely defend their work publicly. The typical mandate for those in the judiciary is to let their decisions speak for themselves. Commentary outside of that risks being criticized as biased or politically motivated.

But as political violence rises against public figures, and as public confidence in the judicial system shrinks, current and former women judges are the leading voices weighing in.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned in May against what she described as “relentless attacks” on judges that she said risks “undermining our Constitution.” Most recently, Justice Amy Coney Barrett pushed back against contentions she is moving to enforce the Trump administration’s pol