I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8591 

To provide for judicial security and privacy. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 13, 2020 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. CARTER of Texas, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for judicial security and privacy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Daniel Anderl Judicial 

5 Security and Privacy Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Members of the Federal judiciary perform 

9 the important function of interpreting our Constitu10 tion and administering justice in a fair and impartial 

11 manner. 


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1 (2) Federal judges must be able to act without 

2 fear of personal reprisal from individuals affected by 

3 the decisions they make in the course of carrying out 

4 their public duties. 

5 (3) In recent years, partially as a result of the 

6 rise in the use of social media and online access to 

7 information, members of the Federal judiciary have 

8 been exposed to an increased number of personal 

9 threats in connection to their role. 

10 (4) Between 2015 and 2019, threats and other 

11 inappropriate communications against Federal 

12 judges and other judiciary personnel increased from 

13 926 in 2015 to approximately 4,449 in 2019. 

14 (5) Over the past decade, several members of 

15 the Federal judiciary have experienced acts of vio16 lence against themselves or a family member in con17 nection to their Federal judiciary role, including the 

18 murder of the family of United States District 

19 Judge for the Northern District of Illinois Joan 

20 Lefkow in 2005. 

21 (6) On Sunday July 19, 2020, an assailant 

22 went to the home of Esther Salas, a judge for the 

23 United States District Court for the District of New 

24 Jersey, impersonating a package delivery driver, 

25 opening fire upon arrival, and killing Daniel Anderl, 


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1 the 20-year-old son of Judge Salas, and seriously 

2 wounding Mark Anderl, her husband. 

3 (7) In the aftermath of the recent tragedy that 

4 occurred to Judge Salas and in response to the con5 tinuous rise of threats against members of the Fed6 eral judiciary, there is an immediate need for en7 hanced security procedures and increased availability 

8 of tools to protect Federal judges and their families. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) AT-RISK INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘at-risk 

12 individual’’ means— 

13 (A) a Federal judge; or 

14 (B) a senior, recalled, or retired Federal 

15 judge. 

16 (2) DATA BROKER.—The term ‘‘data broker’’ 

17 means a commercial entity that collects, assembles, 

18 or maintains personal information concerning an in19 dividual who is not a customer or an employee of 

20 that entity in order to sell the information or provide 

21 third party access to the information. 

22 (3) DIRECTIONS.—The term ‘‘directions’’ mean 

23 directions for navigation of surface streets that will 

24 lead to the specific covered address, even if the ad25 dress is not published. 


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1 (4) FEDERAL JUDGE.—The term ‘‘Federal 

2 judge’’ means— 

3 (A) a justice or judge of the United States, 

4 as those terms are defined in section 451 of 

5 title 28, United States Code; 

6 (B) a bankruptcy judge appointed under 

7 section 152 of title 28, United States Code; 

8 (C) a United States magistrate judge ap9 pointed under section 631 of title 28, United 

10 States Code; 

11 (D) a judge confirmed by the United 

12 States Senate and empowered by statute in any 

13 commonwealth, territory, or possession to per14 form the duties of a Federal judge; and 

15 (E) a judge of the United States Court of 

16 Federal Claims appointed under section 171 of 

17 title 28, United States Code. 

18 (5) GOVERNMENT AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Gov19 ernment agency’’ means any department enumerated 

20 in section 1 of title 5 of the United States Code, 

21 independent establishment, commission, administra22 tion, authority, board or bureau of the United States 

23 or any corporation in which the United States has 

24 a proprietary interest. The term includes all such in25 stitutions, offices, and any other bodies politic and 


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1 corporate of the United States Government created 

2 by the constitution or statute, whether in the execu3 tive, judicial, or legislative branch; all units and cor4 porate outgrowths created by Executive order of the 

5 President or any constitutional officer, by the Su6 preme Court of the United States, or by resolution 

7 of the United States Congress. 

8 (6) IMMEDIATE FAMILY.—The term ‘‘immediate 

9 family’’ means a spouse, child, parent, or any other 

10 blood relative of an at-risk individual who lives in 

11 the same residence as the at-risk individual. 

12 (7) JUDGES’ PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN13 FORMATION.—The term ‘‘judges’ personally identifi14 able information’’ means— 

15 (A) a home address, including primary res16 idence or vacation home address, of an at-risk 

17 individual; 

18 (B) home, personal mobile, or the direct 

19 telephone line to the private chambers of an at20 risk individual; 

21 (C) the personal email address of an at22 risk individual; 

23 (D) the social security number, driver’s li24 cense number, or voter registration information 


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1 that includes a home address of an at-risk indi2 vidual; 

3 (E) a bank account or credit or debit card 

4 information of an at-risk individual; 

5 (F) property tax records or any property 

6 ownership records of an at-risk individual, in7 cluding a secondary residence and any invest8 ment property of at which an at-risk individual 

9 resides for part of a year; 

10 (G) birth and marriage records of an at11 risk individual; 

12 (H) vehicle registration information of an 

13 at-risk individual; 

14 (I) identification of children of an at-risk 

15 individual under the age of 18; 

16 (J) date of birth of an at-risk individual; 

17 (K) directions to a home of an at-risk indi18 vidual or immediate family of an at-risk indi19 vidual; 

20 (L) a photograph of any vehicle including 

21 license plate or home including address of an 

22 at-risk individual or immediate family of an at23 risk individual; 

24 (M) the name and location of a school or 

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1 risk individual or immediate family of an at-risk 

2 individual; or 

3 (N) the name and location of an employer 

4 of an immediate family member of an at-risk 

5 individual. 

6 (8) SOCIAL MEDIA.—The term ‘‘social media’’ 

7 means any online electronic medium, a live-chat sys8 tem, or an electronic dating service— 

9 (A) that primarily serves as a medium for 

10 users to interact with content generated by 

11 other third-party users of the medium; 

12 (B) that enables users to create accounts 

13 or profiles specific to the medium or to import 

14 profiles from another medium; and 

15 (C) that enables one or more users to gen16 erate content that can be viewed by other third17 party users of the medium. 

18 SEC. 4. PROTECTING JUDGES’ PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE 

19 INFORMATION IN PUBLIC RECORDS. 

20 (a) GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each at-risk individual 

22 may— 

23 (A) file written notice of the status of the 

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1 selves and immediate family of an at-risk indi2 vidual, to each Government agency; and 

3 (B) ask each Government agency described 

4 in subparagraph (A) to mark as confidential 

5 judges’ personally identifiable information. 

6 (2) Government agencies shall not publicly post 

7 or display publicly available content that includes 

8 judges’ personally identifiable information. Govern9 ment agencies, upon receipt of a written request in 

10 accordance with subsection (a)(1)(A) of this section, 

11 shall remove the judges’ personally identifiable infor12 mation from publicly available content within 72 

13 hours. 

14 (b) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 

15 (1) GRANT PROGRAM TO PREVENT DISCLOSURE

16 OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OF JUDICIAL OFFI17 CERS.— 

18 (A) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney Gen19 eral shall make grants to prevent the release of 

20 personally identifiable information of at-risk in21 dividuals to the detriment of such individuals or 

22 their families to— 

23 (i)(I) a State or unit of local govern24 ment (as such terms are defined in section 

25 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 


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1 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

2 10251); or 

3 (II) an agency of a State or unit of 

4 local government; or 

5 (ii) that operates a State or local 

6 database or registry that contains person7 ally identifying information. 

8 (B) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seek9 ing a grant under this section shall submit to 

10 the Attorney General an application at such 

11 time, in such manner, and containing such in12 formation as the Attorney General may reason13 ably require. 

14 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

16 may be necessary to provide grants to entities de17 scribed in paragraph (1) to create or expand pro18 grams designed to protect judges’ personally identifi19 able information, including through— 

20 (A) the creation of programs to redact or 

21 remove judges’ personally identifiable informa22 tion, upon the request of an at-risk individual, 

23 from public records in State agencies; these ef24 forts may include but are not limited to hiring 

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1 sonally identifiable information from public 

2 records; 

3 (B) the expansion of existing programs 

4 that the State may have enacted in an effort to 

5 protect judges’ personally identifiable informa6 tion; 

7 (C) the development or improvement of 

8 protocols, procedures, and policies to prevent 

9 the release of judges’ personally identifiable in10 formation; 

11 (D) the defrayment of costs of modifying 

12 or improving existing databases and registries 

13 to ensure that judges’ personally identifiable in14 formation is protected from release; and 

15 (E) the development of confidential opt out 

16 systems that will enable at-risk individuals to 

17 make a single request to keep judges’ personally 

18 identifiable information out of multiple data19 bases or registries. 

20 (3) REPORT.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, and bi23 ennially thereafter, the Comptroller General of 

24 the United States, shall submit to the Com25 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 


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1 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

2 Representatives an annual report that in3 cludes— 

4 (i) a detailed amount spent by States 

5 and local governments on protection of 

6 judges’ personally identifiable information; 

7 and 

8 (ii) where the judges’ personally iden9 tifiable information was found. 

10 (B) STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 

11 States and local governments that receive funds 

12 under this section shall submit to the Comp13 troller General a report on data described in 

14 clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) to be 

15 included in the report required under that sub16 paragraph. 

17 (c) DATA BROKERS AND OTHER BUSINESSES.— 

18 (1) PROHIBITION.— 

19 (A) DATA BROKERS.—It shall be unlawful 

20 for a data broker to sell, license, trade, pur21 chase, or otherwise provide or make available 

22 for consideration judges’ personally identifiable 

23 information. 

24 (B) OTHER BUSINESSES.—No person, 

25 business, or association shall publicly post or 


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1 publicly display on the internet judges’ person2 ally identifiable information if the at-risk indi3 vidual has, either directly or through an agent, 

4 made a written request of that person, business, 

5 or association to not disclose the judges’ per6 sonally identifiable information of the at-risk in7 dividual or that of the at-risk individual’s im8 mediate family. 

9 (C) LIST.—The Administrative Office of 

10 the United States Courts may, upon request, 

11 act as an agent and provide data brokers with 

12 a current list of Federal judges and their imme13 diate family for the purpose of maintaining 

14 compliance with this section. 

15 (2) REQUIRED CONDUCT.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—After a person, busi17 ness, or association has received a written re18 quest from an at-risk individual to protect the 

19 judges’ personally identifiable information, that 

20 person, business, or association shall have 72 

21 hours to remove the judges’ personally identifi22 able information from the internet. 

23 (B) INFORMATION PROTECTED.—After a 

24 person, business, or association has received a 

25 written request from an at-risk individual, that 


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1 person, business, or association shall ensure 

2 that the at-risk individual’s judges’ personally 

3 identifiable information is not made available 

4 on any website or subsidiary website controlled 

5 by that person, business, or association. 

6 (C) TRANSFER.—After receiving an at-risk 

7 individual’s written request, no person, busi8 ness, or association shall transfer the judges’ 

9 personally identifiable information to any other 

10 person, business, or association through any 

11 medium. 

12 (d) REDRESS AND PENALTIES.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—An at-risk individual whose 

14 judges’ personally identifiable information is made 

15 public as a result of a violation of this Act may 

16 bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory re17 lief in any court of competent jurisdiction. If the 

18 court grants injunctive or declaratory relief, the per19 son, business, or association responsible for the vio20 lation shall be required to pay the at-risk individ21 ual’s costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. 

22 (2) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—An at-risk individual or 

24 immediate family member who is aggrieved by 

25 a violation of subsection (c) of this section may 


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1 bring an action in any court of competent juris2 diction. 

3 (B) DAMAGES.—A prevailing plaintiff in 

4 an action described in subparagraph (A) shall 

5 be awarded damages in an amount— 

6 (i) not greater than 3 times the actual 

7 damages to the plaintiff; and 

8 (ii) not less than $10,000. 

9 SEC. 5. HOME INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEM PROGRAM. 

10 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

11 may be necessary to provide security monitoring services 

12 for active, senior, recalled, or retired Federal judges, in13 cluding any method or methods designed to provide secu14 rity through a system of interworking components and de15 vices such as integrated electronic devices working to16 gether with a central control panel, including doorbell 

17 cameras, outdoor cameras, and motion detection devices. 

18 SEC. 6. TRAINING AND EDUCATION. 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Federal 

20 judiciary such sums as may be necessary for biannual judi21 cial security training for active, senior, or recalled Federal 

22 judges and their immediate family, including— 

23 (1) best practices for using social media and 

24 other forms of online engagement and for maintain25 ing online privacy; 


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1 (2) home security program and maintenance; 

2 (3) understanding removal programs and re3 quirements for judges’ personally identifiable infor4 mation; and 

5 (4) any other judicial security training that the 

6 United States Marshals Services and the Adminis7 trative Office of the United States Courts deter8 mines is relevant. 

9 SEC. 7. NEW THREAT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY. 

10 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 (1) NEW THREAT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY.— 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad13 ministrative Office of the United States Courts such 

14 sums as may be necessary to establish, in coordina15 tion with the U.S. Marshals Service and other rel16 evant Federal law enforcement and security agen17 cies, a new threat management capability for moni18 toring all-source information which may: 

19 (A) provide a threat monitoring and anal20 ysis capability for the protection of at-risk indi21 viduals and judiciary assets; 

22 (B) coordinate social media monitoring 

23 and threat assessments; 

24 (C) proactively manage the monitoring of 

25 data broker websites for judges’ personally 


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1 identifiable information and report violations to 

2 the United States Marshals Service, and other 

3 appropriate Federal and local law enforcement 

4 authorities; 

5 (D) maintain files of escalating behaviors 

6 and work in conjunction with the United States 

7 Marshals Service, and appropriate Federal and 

8 local law enforcement to counteract overt acts 

9 of aggression; 

10 (E) maintain a database of each active, 

11 senior, recalled, or retired Federal judge to 

12 catalogue complaints, including the name and 

13 other relevant personal information of the indi14 vidual or group of individuals engaging in direct 

15 or indirect threatening behavior; and 

16 (F) coordinate complaints by active, senior, 

17 recalled, or retired Federal judges of all sources 

18 and other online threats, whether direct or indi19 rect, with law enforcement partners. 

20 (b) EXPANSION OF CAPABILITIES OF OFFICE OF

21 PROTECTIVE INTELLIGENCE.—There is authorized to be 

22 appropriated such sums as may be necessary to the United 

23 States Marshals Service to expand the current capabilities 

24 of the Office of Protective Intelligence of the Judicial Se25 curity Division to— 


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1 (1) increase the workforce of the Office of Pro2 tective Intelligence to include additional intelligence 

3 analysts, United States deputy marshals, and any 

4 other relevant personnel to ensure that the Office of 

5 Protective Intelligence is ready and able to antici6 pate and deter threats to the judiciary; 

7 (2) provide a number of intelligence analysts of 

8 the United States Marshals Service to assist the Ad9 ministrative Office of the U.S. Courts in establishing 

10 the threat monitoring capability described in sub11 section (a); and 

12 (3) develop a monitoring, collection, and analyt13 ical capability to share relevant information lever14 aged from the Administrative Office of the United 

15 States Courts and partnered law enforcement and 

16 security agencies to protect judiciary personnel and 

17 assets. 

18 (c) REPORT.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Depart21 ment of Justice, in consultation with the Adminis22 trative Office of the United States Courts, shall sub23 mit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate 

24 and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

25 Representatives a report on the security of Federal 


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1 judges arising from the Federal prosecutions and 

2 civil litigation. 

3 (2) DESCRIPTION.—The report required under 

4 paragraph (1) shall describe— 

5 (A) the number and nature of threats and 

6 assaults against at-risk individuals handling 

7 prosecutions and other matters described in 

8 paragraph (1) and the reporting requirements 

9 and methods; 

10 (B) the security measures that are in place 

11 to protect the at-risk individuals handling pros12 ecutions described in paragraph (1), including 

13 threat assessments, response procedures, avail14 ability of security systems and other devices, 

15 firearms licensing such as deputations, and 

16 other measures designed to protect the at-risk 

17 individuals and immediate family of an at-risk 

18 individual; and 

19 (C) for each requirement, measure, or pol20 icy described in subparagraphs (A) and (B), 

21 when the requirement, measure, or policy was 

22 developed and who was responsible for devel23 oping and implementing the requirement, meas24 ure, or policy. 


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1 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

2 If any provision of this Act or the application of such 

3 provision to any person or circumstance is held to be un4 constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the applica5 tion of such provision to any person or circumstance shall 

6 not be affected thereby. 

7 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 This Act shall take effect on the date that is 120 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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