Law

As federal judges endure a rise in threats, CBS News has learned that some jurists have faced strange, unnerving incidents in which an unknown person orders a pizza to their home address in an apparent attempt to menace them.

The top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., has called the incidents "pizza doxxing" — a spin on "doxxing," in which somebody's address or other personal information is maliciously made public, often as a form of intimidation.

In about two dozen cases nationwide, judges have gotten unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the late son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, the New Jersey judge told CBS News. Anderl was killed at the family's New Jersey home in 2020 by a disgruntled gunman who was targeting Salas.

Salas called the cases attempts at "psychological warfare" against judges.