Increased anti-Semitic rhetoric targeted toward Palm Beach judge magistrate in Trump case

The Anti-Defamation League's Florida region has reported an increase in strident antisemitic rhetoric from extremist online platforms, all of it directed toward or mentioning the federal magistrate from U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach after he signed off on the search warrant carried out at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who is a board member at a local synagogue, had his information removed from the judicial directory after receiving violent threats, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told The Palm Beach Post on Aug. 10.

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ADL said it has seen threatening posts aimed at magistrate, synagogue

On Friday, a security guard at the Palm Beach County synagogue told a Palm Beach Post reporter that the synagogue is not allowing visitors. The Post is not identifying the synagogue because of the nature of the security threat.

The guard did not say whether the decision was related to threats against the synagogue, but said that "people are doing stupid things nowadays." He also told the reporter that the synagogue will not be answering telephone calls or returning messages.

Synagogue officials have not spoken publicly.

Ben Popp, an investigative researcher with the ADL's Center on Extremism, said the aggressive comments he has seen named the synagogue, identified Reinhart as Jewish and included antisemitic language and threats.

"There's certainly been an increase in violent rhetoric from individual and extremist spaces from across the right-wing spectrum," Popp said.

Last week, Reuters reported that the threats against Reinhart bolstered efforts by a key judiciary security committee and the president of the Federal Judges Association to seek congressional approval of legislation to improve security for the judiciary.

On Aug. 11, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan, who chairs the Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Security, said "threats against judges fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities strike at the very core of our democracy," Reuters reported.

Online attacks spur calls for laws to protect judiciary

The legislation is the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act. It would permit federal judges to redact personal information from government websites and bar people and businesses from publishing such information online if they have made a written request not to do so, according to reporting from Reuters.

The bill was named after Daniel Anderl, the son of a U.S. District judge, who was murdered in the judge's New Jersey home in July 2020 by a disgruntled lawyer.

Two months ago, an armed man was arrested near the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on suspicion he sought to assassinate the high court jurist.

Right-wing social media platforms and message boards have responded vocally to the political firestorm since the search warrant was carried out on Aug. 8 at Mar-a-Lago.

Reinhart's name, alleged address and other pieces of personal information were published on these message boards, Popp said. Reinhart has been criticized online as well for his role in representing disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's employees.

Reinhart joined the judicial ranks as a magistrate in 2018 after being selected above 63 other lawyers who applied.

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump search warrant Judge Bruce Reinhart anti-Semitic threats ramp up