U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called on Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to begin an investigation into recent unsolicited pizza deliveries to federal judges, calling them ongoing and increasing threats to the federal judiciary. Durbin believes they are an effort to intimidate the judges and show that, whoever sent the delivery, knows the judge’s address and where their family lives.
What does Sen. Durbin’s letter say?
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In the last five years, the U.S. Marshals Service has investigated more than 1,000 “serious threats” against federal judges.
Durbin is demanding that the DOJ and FBI take steps to protect judges who have received such deliveries. He wrote in a letter to the departments.
“These incidents threaten not only judges and their families, but also judicial independence and the rule of law,” Durbin wrote. “It is imperative that the Justice Department and the FBI investigate these anonymous and pseudonymous deliveries and that those responsible be held accountable to the full extent of the law.“
The Illinois Democrat said those targeted include Supreme Court justices, judges handling legal cases involving the Trump administration and children of judges. He added that some deliveries were made using the name Daniel Anderl. He was the son of federal Judge Esther Salas. In July 2020, a lawyer, posing as a deliveryman, shot and killed Anderl at the judge’s home in New Jersey after he found the address online. The gunman later killed himself.
In 2022, Congress passed the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act. The law forbids the disclosure or sale of personal information of federal judges and their family members.
“My murdered son’s name is now being attached, weaponized, is being used as a weapon against these judicial officers,” Salas told NJ.com in April 2025.
Who has received a phony pizza delivery?
The Washington Post reported that U.S. Circuit Court Judge Michelle Childs said she has received more than a half dozen anonymous deliveries to her home in the past few months, including after she took part in a ruling in a case against the Trump administration. Childs told The Post that the deliveries are an infringement on democracy.
“It’s unsettling because I’d like to go to work every day, even with the hardest case, just feeling like there’s no sense of intimidation. It’s really an unnecessary and an unfortunate threat to our security when we’re trying to be judicial officers in a very neutral position with respect to our cases,” Childs said.
Has there been any response from federal authorities?
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshal’s Service told The Post the agency is looking into the unsolicited pizza deliveries and taking steps to address the matter.
Durbin called on the Attorney General and FBI Director to make sure the size of the Marshal’s Service is not reduced as the Trump administration continues to make federal workforce cuts. He called any reduction in the Marshal’s service “inappropriate and unacceptable.”
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