After U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas’s son and husband were shot at her home last year, the federal judge issued repeated calls for the Senate to progress a bill boosting judicial security during her appearance on “60 Minutes”
Salas’ son, Daniel Anderl, was shot and killed by Roy Den Hollander, who described himself as an “anti-feminist” lawyer and denounced women, specifically female judges. Huff Post reports that Hollander was aggrieved after a case presented before Salas.
Hollander showed at her home on July 19th, disguised as a FedEx delivery driver, and opened fire on Salas’ son as he opened the door and later her husband, Mark Anderl, who would survive the attack.
The House nearly passed a $1.9 billion security funding bill in early May linked to costs for the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. The bill involves more than $157 million for judicial security, including funding to solve security threats faced by federal judges and an additional $25 million for more staffing at the U.S. Marshals Service.
“He knew obviously where I lived. He knew my routes to work. He knew the church we attended. He had Daniel’s school. He knew baseball games. Just a complete work-up on me and my family,” Salas said.
“Who knows what could have happened? But we need to understand that judges are at risk. We need to understand that we put ourselves in great danger every day for doing our jobs. This fact has to wake us up.”
Many expect the Senate to take up the bill, which would exclude judges’ personal data from the internet, including home addresses and property tax records. Salas stated that Hollander had access to a herd of information about her using such methods.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
