Congress urged to make Daniel's Law, named after Judge Esther Salas' murdered son, federal law
Joseph SpectorTRENTON – The nation's state attorneys general signed onto a letter Monday to Congress to urge for a federal law that keeps private the home addresses of judges from the public.
The measure would build off of a New Jersey law signed last month called "Daniel's Law" that came after the murder of Daniel Anderl in July, when he answered the door at the North Brunswick home he shared with his mother, U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas.
His father, Mark, was also shot but survived.
The New Jersey law prohibits disclosure of home addresses of current or retired judges, as well as prosecutors, law enforcement officers and their spouses or children.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced Monday that a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general sent a letter to Congress urging it pass a similar measure on the national level.
“Now more than ever, we need to protect public servants from threats and violence targeted at them simply for doing their jobs,” Grewal said in a statement.
“Nobody should suffer that kind of abuse, let alone the kind of pain inflicted on Judge Salas and her family."
The letter supports passage of the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, and it was also backed by the National Association of Attorneys General.
The federal bill would protect the confidentiality of identifying information of members of the federal judiciary in public records.
The measure is sponsored by New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
“While we can’t erase the hate in people’s hearts, our bill makes it more difficult for those who wish harm on our federal judges to act on it," Menendez said in a statement.
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It was unclear whether the bill could be part of any lame-duck session of Congress this year or be considered when the new Congress is seated in 2021.
The New Jersey law prevents addresses of the officials from being disclosed on public records and makes it a crime for someone to publish an address or to share or repost it, including on social media.
Joseph Spector is the Government and Politics Editor for the USA TODAY Network's Atlantic Group, overseeing coverage in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. He can be reached at JSPECTOR@Gannett.com or followed on Twitter: @GannettAlbany