Saturday 20 February 2021

New Jersey judge targeted by an anti-feminist lawyer who shot dead her son says her would-be killer was planning to kill Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

 The lawyer who killed a federal judge's son and seriously wounded her husband at their New Jersey home last summer also had been tracking Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the judge said in a television interview.

US District Judge Esther Salas said FBI agents discovered the information in a locker belonging to the lawyer, Roy Den Hollander. 

'They found another gun, a Glock, more ammunition. But the most troubling thing they found was a manila folder with a workup on Justice Sonia Sotomayor,' Salas said in an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes. 

The segment is scheduled for broadcast Sunday, but a portion of the interview aired Friday on CBS This Morning.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
US District Judge Esther Salas

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was possibly being targeted by the man who killed the son and wounded the husband of US District Court Judge Esther Salas (right)

Roy Den Hollander, an anti-feminist lawyer, posed as a FedEx delivery person and fatally shot 20-year-old Daniel Anderl and wounded his father, Mark Anderl, in July, according to authorities

Roy Den Hollander, an anti-feminist lawyer, posed as a FedEx delivery person and fatally shot 20-year-old Daniel Anderl and wounded his father, Mark Anderl, in July, according to authorities

Den Hollander, 72, committed suicide days later with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and authorities discovered his body inside a car in Catskills

Den Hollander, 72, committed suicide days later with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and authorities discovered his body inside a car in Catskills

Both the Supreme Court and the FBI declined to comment Friday. 

'We do not discuss security as a matter of Court policy,' court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in an email.


Authorities have said Den Hollander, a men's rights lawyer with a history of anti-feminist writings, posed as a FedEx delivery person and fatally shot 20-year-old Daniel Anderl and wounded his father, Mark Anderl, in July. 

Salas was in another part of the home at the time and was not injured.

Daniel Anderl, 20, took a bullet to his chest after he answered the door to the gunman dressed as a FedEx driver on July 19 

Salas' husband, Mark Anderl (pictured) was seriously wounded in the shooting

Salas' husband, Mark Anderl (pictured) was seriously wounded in the shooting

Den Hollander, 72, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the day after the ambush. 

In his rambling, 1,700-page book titled Stupid Frigging Fool, Den Hollander referred to Salas as 'this hot Latina Judge in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey whom Obama had appointed.'

He wrote: 'At first, I wanted to ask the Judge out, but thought she might hold me in contempt.'

Elsewhere in the book, he called her a 'lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama.'

In one of his online ramblings, he complained that she was taking too long to rule on it.

'Just unbelievable, by now we should have been knocking on the U.S. Supreme Court’s door, but lady unluck stuck us with an Obama appointee.

'Female judges didn’t bother me as long as they were middle age or older black ladies.

'They seemed to have an understanding of how life worked and were not about to be conned by any foot dragging lawyer.

'Latinas, however, were usually a problem—driven by an inferiority complex,' he fumed. 

Authorities believe he also shot and killed a fellow attorney in California in the days before the attack at Salas' home.

News media are seen on July 20 in front of Salas's home in North Brunswick, N.J. In the wake of the fatal shooting of her 20-year-old son

News media are seen on July 20 in front of Salas's home in North Brunswick, N.J. In the wake of the fatal shooting of her 20-year-old son 

The AP has previously reported that when Den Hollander was found dead he had a document with him with information about a dozen female judges from across the country, half of whom are Latina, including Salas.

Salas has been calling for more privacy and protections for judges, including scrubbing personal information from the internet, to deal with mounting cyberthreats. 

The US Marshals Service, which protects about 2,700 federal judges, said there were 4,449 threats and inappropriate communications in 2019, up from 926 such incidents in 2015.

Legislation named for Salas' son that would make it easier to shield judges' personal information from the public failed to pass the Senate in December, but could be reintroduced this year.

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