"Double, double toil and trouble"…
Pizzas sent as threats in name of judge’s murdered son
Judge Esther Salas highlights new tactic as intimidation against judges escalates
Brenda Flanagan, Senior Correspondent | April 16, 2025
“We are facing what appears to be a targeted strike against judges in the form of intimidation by unknown sources,” U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas said during “Speak Up For Justice!,” a nationwide online forum Tuesday to address an escalating storm of retributive political outrage and covert retaliation against U.S. judges from angry extremists.
Salas described a new tactic: “Hundreds of pizzas have been delivered to judges all over this country in the last few months. And in the last few weeks — judges’ children.” Salas said her late son’s name was included with pizza deliveries this week. Daniel Anderl was shot dead in 2020 at the front door of the family’s New Jersey home by an angry lawyer Salas had previously ruled against.
“And now Daniel’s name was being weaponized to bring fear to judges and their children. You’re saying to those judges — ‘You want to end up like Judge Salas? You want to end up like Judge Salas’ son?'” she said.
Salas urged federal investigators to find those responsible for the deliveries and has urged other states to adopt laws similar to the one bearing her son’s name. New Jersey’s Daniel’s Law protects the private data of judges, police and public employees.
Tuesday’s panel called for lawyers and judicial groups to stand up to intensified partisan attacks.
“Increasingly these attacks have included threats and attempts to intimidate judges by threatening impeachment based on nothing more than they disagree with the ruling the judges made,” said former U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm.
Panelists did not name names. But the most recent clash involved the Trump administration’s fury over being thwarted in an immigrant deportation case, with officials like Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller decrying “JUDICIAL TYRANNY — and Marxist Judges!” and President Trump posting on a social media platform, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trump, noting, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Also on Tuesday, former Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli spoke about a new lobbying group, the Public Safety Information Protection Coalition, that’s also focused on shielding judges’ private data.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed Daniel’s Law in 2020. The statute was amended in 2023 to let third-party data protection firms like Atlas Privacy file lawsuits if companies didn’t delete their clients’ private data fast enough.
“Right now, the law is in such a state of disarray that it’s not being enforced, and that’s a bad thing,” Molinelli said. “What matters is, Daniel’s law needs to be fixed.” He said lawmakers should restore the original Daniel’s Law and then fix the problems surrounding data privacy.
Atlas has argued that Daniel’s Law is “too great a threat to the business models” of companies that harvest and use data. In a statement too late for broadcast, its spokesman said, “Daniel’s Law has been upheld as constitutional by every federal and state court in which it has been challenged, and these data brokers know New Jersey and other states are finally ready to hold them accountable for their continued and willful non-compliance.”
https://www.njspotlightnews.org/video/pizzas-sent-as-threats-in-name-of-judges-murdered-son/