OKLAHOMA CITY — A state lawmaker is pushing to shield the personal information of judges after his wife, a district court judge, faced a credible death threat as a result of her work.
As local judges say they’re facing a growing number of threats, Rep. Preston Stinson, R-Edmond, filed legislation that would allow current and retired members of the judiciary to petition state and local government agencies and private entities to prevent the public from viewing their personal information.
Under House Bill 2794, a judge could ask for personal information such as their home address, personal email address, telephone number, date of birth, Social Security number, bank account details and license plate number to be marked private.
The legislation would also bar data brokers from knowingly selling the personal information of a judge or their immediate family members.
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More focus has been put on the issues of judicial privacy and security after a 2020 incident in which a man disgruntled with a New Jersey judge arrived at her home disguised as a deliveryman and shot and killed her adult son.
More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision over the summer resulted in abortion rights protesters rallying outside several justices’ homes. In June, police also arrested an armed man outside Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home who said he intended to kill the justice.
About two years ago, Stinson realized how many hoops judges have to jump through to shield their personal information when his wife, an Oklahoma County district court judge, faced a death threat.
When the man who made the threat was going to be charged, the Stinsons home address was initially included on the arrest warrant that would be a public record. Stinson said his wife ultimately had to get a court order to have their address removed from the paperwork.
Stinson said Oklahoma lawmakers appear to have more appetite to act on judicial privacy this year due to high-profile incidents in other states and Congress passing legislation to shield federal judges’ personal information online. About a dozen Oklahoma judges testified about threats they faced and their privacy concerns in a fall interim study Stinson hosted on this issue.
“I feel like this issue has become more ripe in the past year,” Stinson said.
Rep. Anthony Moore, R-Clinton, and Stinson proposed a similar bill last year that never cleared the Oklahoma House. Now, HB 2794 has passed the House and is headed to the Senate, although Stinson admitted he’s still working out some of the details.
Stinson said he intends for HB 2794 to apply to all Oklahoma judges. The bill would allow judges to ask entities to shield the private information of their immediate family members, too.
“As a spouse (and) family member of a judge, theoretically, I would be covered under this to have my information removed,” Stinson said. “I have no intention of doing that. That’s not what this was about.”
Stinson also said he consulted with a House attorney before introducing the legislation that could pertain to his wife.
Judicial privacy is an issue across the country, said former Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, the state’s administrative director of the courts. She noted bills similar to Stinson’s have been introduced in at least six states this year.
Some other states have already passed laws to restrict access to judges’ personal information, she said.
“Threats against judicial officers at all levels are on the rise and have been, in my observation, the last three to five years,” Askins said.
Oklahoma County District Court Judge Richard Ogden agreed, although he said he couldn’t speculate as to why threats against judges are becoming more frequent.
There have been several instances in Oklahoma County where people have been charged with crimes for threatening a judge’s life. In some cases, judges have had to get local law enforcement stationed outside their homes due to credible threats, he said.
Ogden helps lead the legislative committee for the state’s Judicial Conference and is treasurer of the Oklahoma Judges Association. Both groups support Stinson’s bill, which is based on model legislation, he said.
“We felt that it’s important to try to do the best we could to protect our judicial personnel,” Ogden said.
The Oklahoma Press Association is monitoring HB 2794, said Mark Thomas, the group’s executive vice president. Thomas said he aims to tweak some of the bill language pertaining to media outlets reporting on judges and judicial conduct.
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