Constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky, mass tort mediator Ken Feinberg and three current and former judges called on members of the bench and bar, and others, to speak up against verbal and physical attacks on the nation’s judiciary.
At Tuesday’s “virtual rally,” called Speak Up For Justice, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, of the District of New Jersey, likened the attacks to a “bonfire,” and “accelerants are being thrown on this fire, and it’s burning real hot.”
“To the lawyers and retired judges joining us, we need you to be champions of justice, to speak when active members of the judiciary cannot,” she said. “We need you to come forward and be our voice when we’re being unfairly attacked.”
Tuesday’s event also included California Associate Justice Eileen Moore, and former U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm, now at Duke University School of Law. Although no one mentioned President Donald Trump by name at the event, which was billed as nonpartisan, the remarks responded to criticisms he and Republican lawmakers have made about judges who have ruled against the administration, calling one a “radical left lunatic” and others “crooked.” Many of Tuesday’s speakers echoed statements by Chief Justice John Roberts last month condemning efforts to impeach federal judges.
Salas, whose son was killed at her house in 2020 by a gunman posing as a FedEx delivery man, also addressed recent reports about hundreds of pizzas being delivered to other judges at their homes or those of their children.
“And just this past week, we found out that pizzas were being sent to judges and children in the name of Daniel Anderl, my murdered son,” she said. “My husband almost lost his life trying to protect our family, and now Daniel’s name is being weaponized to bring fear to judges and their children.”
Paul Kiesel, of Kiesel Law in Beverly Hills, California, told Law.com he organized the event, which attracted 7,000 attendees, to be the largest-ever virtual rally in the legal community. Kiesel, a personal injury attorney who is former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, said he was inspired to act after watching the legal community remain silent as Trump’s executive orders targeted some of the nation’s law firms, such as Perkins Coie and Paul Weiss, because of the cases they pursued. Many have cut deals with the Trump administration.
“Nobody was speaking out, no one was discussing the rule of law,” Kiesel told Law.com. “I felt the legal community was not responding vocally, and it needed to.”
He anticipated more events in the coming months and, on Tuesday, encouraged attendees to attend upcoming rallies on May 1, which is Law Day, in cities including New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Austin and Washington D.C.
“We have to continue to build this momentum, because if we don’t, we are at risk of losing our judicial system,” he told Law.com.
‘Shed Some Light, And Not Some Heat’
Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, who last month spoke out about increasing presidential power weakening congressional and judicial oversight, told Tuesday’s attendees, “Let us now emphatically speak up for justice.”
Feinberg explained how the rule of law came into play when he served as administrator of the 9/11 victim compensation fund, which was challenged in court. He also referenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore, which ended the 2020 vote dispute, ratifying the election of President George W. Bush.
“And what was the result of that vote?” Feinberg said. “There were not riots in the street. There were not mobs surrounding the Supreme Court. There was no violence. There were no physical threats. And that’s because the body politic, the American people, understood that the rule of law must prevail.”
Grimm, who has encouraged members of the legal profession to speak out against the attacks, offered a civics lesson on how the founders of the United States wanted checks and balances in creating the three branches of government.
“When unfair attacks are made against the judicial system or individual judges, lawyers and bar associations need to react promptly but respectfully, and in a non-partisan fashion, to explain why that attack was unjustified or unwarranted,” he said.
He called on attendees to “shed some light, and not some heat.”
Moore, a combat nurse during the Vietnam War who sits on the California Courts of Appeal, emphasized the need for hundreds of treatment centers in state courts for U.S. veterans. Those centers are staffed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which Trump advisor Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has targeted with layoffs.
“We can hate a war but still love and cherish our warriors,” she said.