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A delivery box held a rifle
The delivery box
It happened during the pandemic, when Judge Salas was at home spending time with her only son, Daniel. The attacker was a litigant who was also a lawyer. He came to the door with what looked like a box for a delivery, and a rifle was inside it.
When her husband opened the door, the man went to shoot him. Daniel came out of nowhere, pushed his father out of the way, and was shot several times. He was killed on the spot.
The law and the fund
Judge Salas has since pushed for laws to protect judges' private information, and Daniel's law does that. The law firm Seeger Weiss gave $500,000 to the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School to create a memorial fund in his name. The fund supports the Institute's work on judicial independence and on educating lawyers about complex litigation.
How does Daniel's Law shield judges' addresses?
New Jersey enacted Daniel's Law in late 2020, restricting the disclosure of home addresses and phone numbers of judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers. Covered people can ask data brokers and others to stop publishing that information. Congress followed in 2022 with the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, which takes a similar approach for federal judges and their families. It passed as part of a larger defense authorization bill.
Why is a judge's home address easy to find?
Property deeds, voter rolls, and court filings are public records in many places, and data brokers collect them into searchable profiles. Those profiles are sold in bulk, often combined with phone numbers and relatives' names. The federal law for judges targets the resale of that information by data brokers.
Who protects federal judges away from court?
The U.S. Marshals Service has protected the federal judiciary since the Judiciary Act of 1789 created the marshals. They handle security inside courthouses and assess threats made against judges. When a threat looks serious, the marshals can assign protective details to a judge's home or travel.
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