Berkeley Judicial Institute

Video: Opinion | When Judges Are Attacked, You Suffer When judges have to ask if one ruling is a “safer choice for their family” than another, is it still justice? Judge Esther Salas explains how political attacks have threatened the foundation of the U....

Judge Esther Salas explains in clear accessible ways how ordinary citizens' protection is at risk when judges are under attack.

"Without an independent judiciary, you don’t stand a chance if your adversary is stronger, more powerful, more rich than you. You don’t stand a chance in the courtroom"

As judges face more threats, only the Supreme Court gets new security funds There was a spike in threats against the judiciary in the early months of 2025, Marshals Service data shows.

"There are people in the judiciary who are afraid that judicial security for the lower courts and politics are getting played off each other, and no one wants to be in that position,” says Jeremy Fogel, executive director of @bji.bsky.social https://wapo.st/43SvbUQ #BerkeleyLaw @washingtonpost.com

As judges face more threats, only the Supreme Court gets new security funds There was a spike in threats against the judiciary in the early months of 2025, Marshals Service data shows.

@bji.bsky.social @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social’s Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.) is quoted in this article about judicial security: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Please join @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social’s Civil Justice Research Initiative and @bji.bsky.social (virtually) on Dec 5, 1 PT for “Judges Standing Up for the Rule of Law.”
The program is open to the public and will be recorded. For more:
www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bji...

“Biblical Justice, Equal Justice, for All”: How North Carolina’s Chief Justice Transformed His State and America Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well be...

“Disclosing can mitigate the appearance of impropriety. I think people ought to disclose. That’s what I would have done,” Jeremy Fogel, executive director of @bji.bsky.social and former federal judge told @propublica.org: bit.ly/4oKBwJP #UCBerkeleyLaw

Lawfare Daily: How are the Courts Doing? Two former federal judges discuss how courts are handling the enormous stress being put on the legal system.

Listen: Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.), executive director of Berkeley Judicial Institute @bji.bsky.social joins the Lawfare Daily podcast to talk about how courts are handling the enormous stress being put on the legal system: https://bit.ly/4nB3NCs #UCBerkeleyLaw

Judges’ Mental Well-Being Gets New Attention as Threats Rise (1) After a day of sentencing criminal defendants, Judge Lee Yeakel made a ritual of replaying each hearing in his head and worry whether he’d gotten them right.

Jeremy Fogel, executive director of Berkeley Judicial Institute @bji.bsky.social and a former federal trial judge in California, spoke to @bloomberglaw.com about increasing the focus on judicial well-being and mental health. https://bit.ly/46OQWFM
#UCBerkeleyLaw

Retired judges condemn attacks on the judiciary — and say California officials are also to blame More than 100 former California judges and almost 50 former federal judges have denounced what they described as widespread and unjustified attacks on the judiciary.

Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute @bji.bsky.social, weighs in on the attacks on the judiciary.
https://bit.ly/4pxWb5c

Debt's Grip

On Aug 15, @bji.bsky.social hosted a book event for Debt's Grip. Judge Erithe Smith led a discussion about the book with me and my co-authors, @boblawless.bsky.social and Debb Thorne. We talked about themes and presented some key data. Recording now available! www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bji...

Cultivating Healing and Health in the Judiciary (Second Iteration, Fall 2025)

📣Calling all Judges 📣
📣Calling all Judges📣
@BklyJudicial announces a virtual five-part fall series for judges, Cultivating Healing and Health in the Judiciary, designed and led by Professor Michele Statz. Applications are due August 15.
Read more, and apply:
law.berkeley.edu/research/bji...
#judges

📣Calling all Judges📣
Please join @bji.bsky.social on F, June 20, noon PT, for UNDER PRESSURE. Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.) talks to psychiatrist Dr. Katharine Weymouth about the pressures judges experience. To register and submit questions:
t.co/Ui5p3KQ5iR
Judges, please share w/colleagues.

As Trump lashes out against courts, calls grow for judges to control their security force Ensuring the safety of federal judges falls to the U.S. Marshals Service, an agency within the Justice Department. But as President Trump increasingly lashes out at the courts, empowering judges to ov...

As Trump lashes out at federal judges there’s a renewed concern about the personal safety of judges. Our @pbsnews.org
conversation tonight with Jeremy Fogel from @bji.bsky.social @geoffrbennett.bsky.social
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

JUSTICE ABANDONED

Join @bji.bsky.social on Zoom today (Friday 5/9) at noon (PT) for a conversation with Judge Brett Alldredge (ret.) and @nyulaw.bsky.social Prof. @rachelbarkow.bsky.social about Barkow’s new book, Justice Abandoned www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bji...

JUSTICE ABANDONED

Tomorrow, May 9, noon PT (3 ET) please join us as Judge Brett Alldredge talks to @nyulaw.bsky.social’s Rachel Barkow about her book, JUSTICE ABANDONED.

For more, and to register:
www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bji...

Events

If you haven’t checked out the @bji.bksy.social event page lately, please visit:
www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bji...
Some great things are already there, and more are in the works….
Join our mailing list to keep up to date:
berkeley.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...

4 things to know about Judge Boasberg as he battles Trump over deportation flights Judge Boasberg's role overseeing a new case that challenges the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador has cast an even brighter light on the longtime judge.

No judge in the nation's history has been removed "because of dissatisfaction with his or her rulings," says @bji.bsky.social's Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.). www.npr.org/2025/03/18/g... via carriejohnson.bsky.social @npr.org

“It’s unfortunate that in today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere, she gets so little credit for doing exactly what judges are supposed to do.”

….of any group, including those that may have supported their appointment,” he said.
Criticism is fair, Fogel added, but it’s “it’s equally inappropriate to vilify them personally simply because they don’t adhere to political orthodoxy in every case.”

Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge in California, said judges bring to the bench their different life experiences and philosophies that affect how they do their job.

“But it’s inappropriate to expect them to decide cases based on the political preferences — right, left or center —…

Justice Amy Coney Barrett ignites anger on the right after ruling against Trump Conservative allies of President Donald Trump called Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett “evil,” a “closet Democrat” and a “DEI hire.”

@bji.bsky.social’s Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.) is quoted in Ann Marimow’s Washington Post article, Justice Amy Coney Barrett ignites anger on the right after ruling against Trump
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

From the article:

Please join @bji.bsky.social for JUDGES & the PRESS: the SDNY experience April 25, noon PT. AO’s Charlie Hall talks to Judge Jennifer Rochon, SDNY District Executive Ed Friedland, ABC’s Aaron Katersky and NY Times’ Ben Weiser.
berkeley.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

From the article:
Even before Mr. Trump’s first-term appointments, the court was beginning to shed its identity as a bastion of liberal jurisprudence, according to Jeremy Fogel, a retired federal judge who served in the Northern District of California.

Why Trump’s Second-Term Agenda Could Hinge on the Court He Hates the Most (Gift Article) Once again, an incoming Trump White House is likely to clash with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. But the court in San Francisco has changed since 2017.

@bji.bsky.social/
@ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social’s Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.) is quoted in NYT article, Why Trump’s Second-Term Agenda Could Hinge on the Court He Hates the Most

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/u...

Here, there’s no question that the ethical issues surrounding the two justices have affected public confidence in the judiciary generally, and the commission apparently saw a need to acknowledge that."

…to avoid political controversy; they tend to be very measured in their public comments, with a goal both of providing useful guidance to judges and of assuring the public that they take their responsibilities seriously…..

From the article:
"I think that the commission’s statement is extraordinary," said Jeremy Fogel, a retired federal trial judge and executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute. "Typically, state judicial performance organizations seek to….

@bji.bsky.social/
@ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social’s Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.) is quoted in Colorado Gazette article, Judicial discipline commission compares SCOTUS ethical lapses to state judges’ disclosure violations.
gazette.com/news/courts/...

…..are prohibited, and even if the subject matter is distinct, appearances can be problematic,” Fogel wrote in an email.
Fogel, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, declined to say whether Alito should recuse himself from Trump’s case.

From the article:
Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute and a former federal judge, also said the call raised red flags.
“Contemporaneous out-of-court communications between a party to a legal proceeding and a judge or Justice presiding over that proceeding generally….

Trump call to Alito sparks demands for justice to recuse from sentencing case Some experts and Democratic lawmakers say a phone call between the president-elect and Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was ethically problematic.

@bji.bsky.social/ @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social’s Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.) quoted in @washingtonpost.com article, Trump call to Alito sparks demands for justice to recuse from sentencing case, wapo.st/4fQkAg3