Protect the judges
Physical attacks on the judiciary attack rule of law
The ambush of a judge in Steubenville, Ohio, last month is a reminder of the vulnerability of the men and women we count on to uphold our justice system.
Common Pleas Judge Joseph J. Bruzzese Jr. was shot and wounded as he was walking from his car to the Jefferson County courthouse. He and a probation officer returned fire, killing the attacker. The shooter was a plaintiff in a wrongful death case before Judge Bruzzese. (He was also the father of a teen convicted of rape in the high-profile 2012 case involving Steubenville high school students, but that appears to be unrelated to the shooting.)
Judges accept a huge risk every day by going to work. Their rulings can often amount to life-and-death decisions, and judges take the bench understanding that many people might leave their courtroom in a state of anger, and a few with revenge on their minds.
A physical attack on a judge is sadly not unique or new. In Warren County, bullet holes remain in the former courtroom of Judge Allison Wade, who was shot and killed on the bench in 1954 by a defendant who was enraged at the amount of spousal support he had been ordered to pay. In 2005, federal Judge Joan Lefkow found her husband and mother murdered in the basement of her Chicago home. Authorities believed they were killed by a man whose medical malpractice case had been dismissed by the judge. She had been the target of death threats from a white supremacistjust a year earlier.
Threats against judges are unfortunately common. In Ohio, U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary was the target in 2016 of a terrorism suspect, who tried to hire a hitman to kill the judge.
This is why prosecutors should and do vigorously prosecute any person who threatens a judge. It is also why courthouse officials must make security a top priority and take all measures possible to keep judges and their staffs safe.
The freedoms and rights Americans enjoy depend on a functioning, and unintimidated, legal system. Judges must be kept safe so they can do their jobs. An attack on a judge is an attack on the rule of law.