What began in April 2025 as a call to action from Los Angeles trial attorney Paul Kiesel has evolved into a recurring national movement uniting judges, attorneys, legal scholars, and civic leaders across ideological and geographic lines.

Just one year after its founding, Speak Up for Justice received the Judicial Independence Award from the International Association of Judges, a rare international recognition of the movement’s efforts to elevate judicial voices and defend the independence of the courts.

At a moment when judges are facing rising threats, targeted harassment, and increasing political retaliation, Speak Up for Justice has created a nonpartisan space for those closest to the courts to speak openly about what is happening, what is at stake, and what these unprecedented challenges mean for the future of American democracy.

A Judicial System Under Increasing Pressure

The numbers demand attention. Threats directed at federal judges have more than doubled over a recent three-year period, with more than 1,300 documented incidents. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, there have been 415 threats against judges in 2026 alone.

But federal judges represent only a fraction of the judiciary. State judges, who handle approximately 95% of all cases in America, face even greater vulnerabilities. They often operate with significantly fewer security protections than their federal counterparts, yet face mounting harassment and security risks tied directly to their rulings in cases involving elections, criminal justice, and civil rights.

Immigration courts are experiencing similar pressure. More than 200 immigration judges have been fired, forced out, or pushed to resign in a single year. Some reported being removed without explanation, others being locked out of their systems overnight, and others being escorted out mid-hearing.

At a recent Speak Up for Justice forum, former immigration judges also described the broader impact on the system itself, including court closures, tens of thousands of cases left in limbo, and caseloads redistributed so rapidly that remaining judges are overwhelmed. With more than 3.5 million immigration cases pending nationwide, the strain on due process has become increasingly severe.

In 2023, lawmakers in 29 states introduced more than 120 bills that directly targeted aspects of judicial independence, with 16 becoming law. These measures included provisions allowing legislative influence over judicial assignments, restructuring court authority, and expanding political oversight of judicial decision-making.

What emerges is not a single crisis point, but a sustained pattern of pressure on the judiciary at both the state and federal levels.

From Courtroom Litigator to Movement Builder

For Paul Kiesel, founding partner of Kiesel Law LLP, these developments represented more than concerning headlines, they signaled an urgent need to speak up.

Kiesel built his career in high-stakes litigation, serving as plaintiffs’ liaison counsel in the Aliso Canyon gas leak litigation, leading major product liability cases against Johnson & Johnson involving talcum powder and ovarian cancer claims, and co-leading nationwide litigation involving social media platforms and youth mental health harms.

But Speak Up for Justice marked a different kind of effort. It was not a courtroom strategy. It was a strategic, institutional response.

“Judges cannot speak freely about the threats they face without risking the integrity of their cases,” Kiesel has emphasized. “That silence creates a gap. Speak Up for Justice exists to fill it responsibly.”

The Team Behind the Movement

What started as one attorney’s determination to break the silence has grown into something larger. Kiesel understood that for Speak Up for Justice to succeed, it needed a strong team behind it.
Judge Esther Salas became a driving force in the movement’s leadership. After the murder of her only son, Daniel, in a targeted attack on her home in retaliation for her rulings. She transformed personal tragedy into national advocacy for judicial security. Her voice carries a weight that statistics cannot. “Since April 2025, Mr. Kiesel, through his work and unyielding support of Speak Up for Justice, is doing his part to defend the rule of law and protect democracy,” Salas says. “Through his tireless efforts and commendable leadership, Mr. Kiesel has undoubtedly ensured that antidemocratic attacks against the judiciary will not go unchallenged.”

Joining her in leadership are Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida, who chairs the Federal Judges Association Committee on Judicial Independence, and Judge Leo Gordon, President Elect of the Federal Judges Association. Judge Bloom, who brings deep experience in how courts function and how they can be protected, points to the movement’s nonpartisan foundation as its defining strength. “Speak Up For Justice has been the leader in our country in educating the public, in a nonpartisan way, about the need to support our justice system and why that matters to every American,” she says.

Judge Gordon, who serves as a bridge between the federal judiciary and the broader legal community mobilizing to defend it, has watched the movement give voice to judges at every level. “Paul, with the help and support of the Executive Team of Speak Up for Justice, has drawn attention to the stories of judges—federal, state and international—who are dealing with threats to themselves, their families, and their staffs, and to the rule of law itself,” Gordon says.

Rounding out the Speak Up for Justice’s Executive Leadership Team are Judge Karoline Mehalchick, President of the Federal Bar Association. Judge Mehalchick, who joined the executive committee in spring 2025, describes being struck by the scale of the effort from the start. “I have been struck by the passion and commitment of Paul to upholding and defending our democracy and rule of law,” she says. “He is untiring in his efforts to educate the public Speak Up about the vital need to support our nation’s independent judiciary.”

This is not a traditional executive team. It is a group of legal and judicial leaders who understand the threats firsthand and are willing to use their positions to speak publicly about what is happening to the courts.

Understanding What’s Driving Threats Against Judges

Political rhetoric has normalized attacks on the judiciary. When prominent figures call for impeachment of judges or label judicial decisions as partisan activism, it signals that judges are fair targets. This rhetoric has real-world consequences: state judges, who often operate with significantly fewer security protections, face harassment and security risks tied directly to their rulings.

The pressures extend beyond physical threats. Federal judges have increasingly faced public attacks from government officials who characterize judges and their rulings as obstacles to the administration’s agenda.

Kiesel has watched this shift happen in real time. “What we’re seeing isn’t disagreement with rulings anymore,” he says. “It’s an attempt to make judges too afraid to rule at all.”

Recently, a senior Department of Homeland Security official publicly targeted sitting federal judges whose decisions conflicted with the administration’s immigration policies, using rhetoric that critics warned could further endanger judges already facing unprecedented threats. As Paul Kiesel, founder of Speak Up for Justice, has argued, disagreeing with a ruling is part of the legal process; personally targeting judges because of their decisions is something fundamentally different.

A Critical Shift: Judges Can Now Speak Out

In a significant development that has energized the movement, a new ethics opinion—Advisory Opinion 118—confirmed that judges are not required to remain silent in the face of threats, intimidation, or attacks that undermine the rule of law.

This represents a fundamental shift from traditional expectations of judicial silence. While judges remain restricted from commenting on political matters, the new guidance recognizes threats to the rule of law as a distinct concern requiring a different standard.

A Year of Forums and Expanding Reach

Over the past twelve months, Speak Up for Justice has convened ten national forums, each building on the urgency of the last and expanding the scope of participation. These forums have brought together legal leaders from across the spectrum, including former judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic administrations, constitutional scholars, trial attorneys, and public officials.

That roster reflects three decades of relationships built inside courtrooms and legal circles — the kind of credibility that convinces a sitting Supreme Court justice, a former U.S. Attorney, and a bipartisan slate of governors and senators to show up.

Among the many notable participants are former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and leading constitutional law scholar Professor Stephen Vladeck of Georgetown University. The forums have also featured Kenneth Feinberg, mediator of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, former Governor Chris Christie, Senator Chris Coons, and North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson.

Prominent trial attorneys, including David Boies, Mark Lanier, Mark Geragos, and Patricia Glaser, have participated alongside legal ethics leaders such as Judge Margaret McKeown and civil rights advocates, including Will Rollins and Ashley Akers.

Global Warning Signs

The forums also expanded beyond U.S. borders to include cautionary tales from judges who witnessed democratic backsliding firsthand. Former Judge Eleazar Javier Saldivia, exiled from Venezuela after challenging abuses under Hugo Chávez, warned forum audiences that his country’s collapse “began not with tanks or protests, but with the slow dismantling of judicial independence.”

Judge Dorota Zabludowska of Poland, featured in the acclaimed documentary A Thousand Robes, endured surveillance, smear campaigns, and political pressure for defending the rule of law, and now sees chilling parallels in global trends, including in the United States.

Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia and architect of South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitutional Court, underscored the universal nature of the challenge, rebuilding trust in justice systems threatened by authoritarian impulses is a global imperative.

The Fight to Protect the Courts Continues

Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia and architect of South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitutional Court, underscored the universal nature of the challenge, rebuilding trust in justice systems threatened by authoritarian impulses is a global imperative

The movement’s first year has been marked by significant momentum, including international recognition from the International Association of Judges with the Judicial Independence Award. But accolades don’t change the reality facing America’s courts.

Speak Up for Justice isn’t going anywhere, and neither are the threats against judges. With another forum set for September and more to follow, the movement has made its position clear: When judges are being swatted, doxxed, and targeted with deepfake murder videos, there is no finish line, only the choice to keep fighting or surrender the courts to intimidation.

For Kiesel, the stakes couldn’t be higher. “History shows us what happens when courts lose their independence,” he says. “We’ve seen this before in Venezuela, Poland, Hungary. The pattern is always the same, dismantling judicial independence is a key step in consolidating authoritarian power.”

The legal profession now faces a choice that will define this generation. The evidence of the threat is overwhelming, and the infrastructure to fight back exists. The only question left is whether enough people will use it—whether attorneys, judges, and concerned citizens will continue raising their voices when silence would be easier.

After twelve months, hundreds of thousands of viewers, and a leadership team that includes some of the most respected voices in American law, Speak Up for Justice has proven one thing conclusively: the judiciary doesn’t have to face this alone. That’s Paul Kiesel’s legacy, one year in. The courts are still under siege. He’s not finished speaking up and neither should we be.