Under the guidance of our current Chair-Elect (and soon to be Chair), the Honorable Heather Welch, and in collaboration with our Vice Chair (and soon to be Chair-Elect), the Honorable James Lockemy, Goal VII has been further refined with the addition of several more subsections. Specifically, I reference subsection 3:
Collaborate with organizations providing security and resources for judges.
The JD created and has maintained an active Judicial Security Committee but with this heightened concern, the current Chair, the Honorable John Allen, has found a cause worthy of ABA endorsement. The JD will now urge the ABA to create policy to support pending Congressional legislation, addressing state judicial security issues. Focused on this concern and with assistance of committee members and others Judge Allen has drafted Resolution 516, sponsored by the Judicial Division (co-sponsored by the Government and Public Sector Lawyers, the Section of State and Local Government, and the Litigation Section) which will be considered by the House of Delegates at the upcoming Annual Meeting. It reads in part as follows:
RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges Congress to pass the Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act, S.3984 and H.R.8093, 118 2 th Cong. (2024)
This legislation would create a national resource center addressing, specifically, issues of judicial security, including monitoring threats, creating an incident reporting center, and collecting the data in a national database.
Thus, under subsection 3, the JD Strategic Plan has moved from theory to reality. But there’s more. Let’s turn to subsection 4 of Goal VII:
Tracking legislation protecting judges’ information online and similar protections for judges at all levels.
The Uniform Law Commissioners are presently studying the creation of a uniform law entitled, Redaction of Personal Information from Public Records Act. The Committee is in its early formative stages, but if successfully completed would provide model legislation that would allow removal of a judge's personally identifiable information from the internet. This measure, similar to so many of these studies, focuses on the grounding of academics and members who possess exceptional expertise on the subject matter. Our JD has representation through Elizabeth Lang-Miers (Ret) Partner and Director of Attorney Development, Texas 5th District Court of Appeals. Let’s be as supportive and responsive to any request that this committee may seek from the Judicial Division.
In the future our membership and leadership will continue to make judicial security a top priority of the Judicial Division. ABA President Mary Smith offers this reality.
"Threats against the very individuals we have appointed or elected to administer our judicial system and the rule of law are not only wrong, they also threaten the very fabric of our democracy—judicial independence and the rule of law."