As former President Trump’s legal problems mount, he is lashing out at judges. Trump has derided the judge overseeing the civil case involving writer E. Jean Carroll as a “Clinton-appointed judge.” The former president claims the judge handling the hush money case filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “hates” him. It is not a new tactic for Trump, who during his presidency questioned the motives or legitimacy of court rulings. I is notable at a time when his 2024 campaign for the White House has included vows for “retribution” for those who feel they have been wronged by the government, reports The Hill. When Trump was indicted for his alleged role in a hush money scheme during the 2016 campaign, the former president wasted little time painting the New York state judge in the case as partisan. Trump posted multiple times about Judge Juan Merchan on his Truth Social platform, referring to him as a “Trump Hating Judge,” and claiming Merchan “HATES ME.” Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said he had no reason to question Merchan’s credibility.
As for federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the case brought against Trump by Carroll, the writer who alleged the former president raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, Trump says, "This Clinton appointed judge ... hated President Donald J. Trump more than is humanly possible.” "He is a terrible person, completely biased, and should have RECUSED himself when asked to do so. He quickly refused! This case should never have been allowed to be tried in this completely partisan venue, perhaps the worst for me in the Nation!” Trump has lambasted the judge who oversaw the Paul Manafort case, derided some jurists who ruled against him as “Obama judges” and suggested a judge’s Mexican heritage meant he was potentially biased against him. The attacks have alarmed the legal community. “Irresponsible attacks in social media, that are based on misinformation or untruths or merely designed for partisan gain … do damage to our justice system. They undermine the rule of law and the system we have in place to provide justice for all,” said Marcy Kahn, a former judge who heads the New York City bar’s Task Force on the Rule of Law. The number of threats against federal judges hit 4,500 in 2021. The total jumped again in 2022, to more than 5,000, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which tracks both threats and inappropriate communications against federal judges.