The Far-Right Is Doxxing Judges and Calling For Their Assassinations

As peaceful protesters camp outside the homes of Supreme Court justices after the leaked draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade, far-right activists are doxxing Democratic federal judges and calling for their assassination. 

The posts, which appear on a far-right Telegram channel, feature the names and addresses of federal court judges (among other public figures perceived as enemies to the far-right) alongside a bio and a slick red graphic with a Kalashnikov rifle. 

The image of the channel on Telegram—the popular encrypted messaging and posting app known in the past for being a safe haven for neo-Nazi terror groups—is the profile of an unidentified militant in a balaclava pointing an assault rifle.

“Remember, change starts with you,” the channel said in its top-line, pinned post. “No one is coming to save us.”

Sitting alongside doxxes of the two Democratic judges listed—one a President Barack Obama appointee and person of color, the other a Jewish judge from the Midwest—are tech tycoons like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook, bankers, and a roster of officials serving on a federal vaccine board. With links to the wider neo-Nazi underbelly on Telegram and now in its fifth iteration, the channel has repeatedly been taken offline for violating the app’s terms of service. 

First tipped to the channel’s existence by U.S.-based research group the Counter Extremism Project, one source familiar with the channel said law enforcement was aware of it and investigating. The FBI said it declined to comment on the channel, and Telegram has yet to respond to questions about it from VICE News.

Earlier this week the GOP cried foul over several peaceful protesters’ sitting outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices who are supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which was explosively disclosed last week when a draft SCOTUS opinion leaked to the press. Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who helped usher through the appointment of pro-life Justice Brett Kavanaugh, also called the police on protesters in her home state of Maine after they chalked a polite request for her to respect abortion rights on the sidewalk in front of her home in Bangor.

In light of those protests, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered additional security for those justices from the U.S. Marshals Service, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said in a printed statement to the media.