Voices on the right are speaking out against a new ethics rule instituted last week by the Judicial Conference of the United States.
The rule allows federal judges to publicly defend themselves and the broader judiciary against allegedly “illegitimate forms of criticisms and attacks.”
The Well News notes that the new rule appears to be a reaction to the Trump administration’s “attacks on federal judges who blocked the presidency’s policy decisions on issues such as government worker layoffs, immigration, and deployment of the National Guard.”
This new rule basically grants said judges the opportunity to respond to the Trump administration in kind.
🚨JUST IN🚨
President Donald Trump is ripping into U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg.
President Trump stating he’s only doing what the American people voted for him to do. pic.twitter.com/pgAKczmJD6
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) March 18, 2025
According to Fox News, the new rule lists four types of alleged “illegitimate activities,” including activities that “either threaten the judges themselves” or threaten the rule of law: “Violence, intimidation, disinformation and threats to defy court orders.”
But critics like Article III Project founder Mike Davis say that the rule does nothing more than give “judicial saboteurs new tools.”
Speaking with Fox News, he warned that the new guidance risks “sabotaging the exercise of core Article II powers of the duly-elected president” and warned that this is yet another example of the federal judiciary overstepping its powers.
Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law, meanwhile, questioned the motives behind the new rule.
“The first thing to note [is] it is clearly a response to conservative criticism of liberal judges,” he told Fox News. “We didn’t see much of this in the last four years, [when] there were routine death threats against conservative judges.”
True.
Just a reminder.
The ONLY judge who received death threats so alarming that it resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of the perpetrator is Judge Aileen Cannon–the FLA judge the media and Democrats “attack” every day.https://t.co/OEQEQQuZYH
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) April 2, 2024
Oh and there were MANY death threats against the conservative judges. Your folks just didn’t think it was important to report on it then. Only when it served their ends.
— 💯Tom Cole💯 (@tom_pureheart) March 16, 2025
Blackman added that the timing of the new rule “gives a sense that only [certain] criticisms warrant a response.”
In fairness, the new rule doesn’t just give judges a blank check. It does come with certain stipulations on what they may say.
The rule specifically stipulates that judges “should always exercise caution when expressing their personal views to preserve the integrity of the judiciary and to promote public confidence in the courts.”
The new rule was instituted just a couple of days before yet another judge vs. Trump feud.
“[O]n Monday … U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the Trump administration to restore displays of enslaved people at George Washington’s former house in Philadelphia,” The Well News notes. “They were taken down in January as part of Trump’s executive order to eliminate reminders of embarrassing episodes in American history.”
President Donald Trump responded to the ruling by alleging that Judge Rufe’s decision was another example of the “radical left” and “activist judges” working to undermine American history.
Last year, Trump similarly got into a feud with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after the judge stopped his administration from using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal aliens.
Writing on Truth Social, the president called Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic” and a “crooked” judge. Trump also called for the rogue judge to be impeached.
More recently, the president suggested that the Department of Justice should launch investigations into judges who interfere with his “anti-corruption agenda.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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