Austin Bar member Judge Julie Kocurek participated in a panel discussion at the University of North Texas–Dallas to endorse a bill by U.S. Senator John Cornyn to improve judicial safety.
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht; Judge Kocurek’s son, Will; and Sen. Cornyn himself also participated in the panel discussion, along with other Texas judges, who discussed threats aimed at them.1
In 2015, Judge Kocurek and her son were the targets of an assassination attempt by a defendant Judge Kocurek had recently sentenced.
Sen. Cornyn’s bill, S.B. 3984, is called the Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act and passed the Senate 100-0 on June 12, 2024. It authorizes the State Justice Institute (SJI), established by an act of Congress in 1984, to provide monetary awards to certain organizations to establish a state judicial threat and intelligence resource center.2
The State Justice Institute currently provides awards to state and local courts “to improve the quality of justice … and foster innovative, efficient solutions to common issues faced by all courts.”3
Sen. Cornyn’s bill would allow the SJI to direct funds to “eligible organizations,” defined as a national nonprofit that:
- provides technical assistance, training, and has expertise and national experience in judicial security and safety at the state and local levels;
- has experience in courthouse security design standards;
- has understanding of state judicial operations; and
- has experience working with trial, appellate, rural, and limited-jurisdiction courts at the state and local levels.
The resource center, housed in the SJI in Fairfax, Va., would:
- provide safety education and training for judicial officers, court staff, and local law enforcement;
- assess the security of courts, homes, and other facilities where judicial officers and staff conduct court-related business;
- collect and distribute warnings of threats to the safety of state and local judges and court staff;
- coordinate with federal, state, and local law enforcement to respond to such threats;
- develop standardized incident-reporting and threat-evaluation practices;
- develop a national database for reporting, tracking, and sharing information about threats and incidents related to the judiciary; and
- conduct research to advance best practices around judicial security.
The bill stipulates that, one year after the resource center is established, the SJI shall submit a report on the number, types, and severity of threats to state and local judiciaries that were reported. The report shall be submitted to both the Senate’s and House of Representatives’ committees on the judiciary.
This is not Judge Kocurek’s first foray into increasing protection for the judiciary in Texas. After the failed assassination attempt, she led a task force on judicial security in Texas. One third of the 2,579 judges surveyed (out of a little more than 3,300 total judges at the time) said security at their courthouses was poor.4
The task force eventually led to the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act,5 which Gov. Abbott signed into law in 2017. The bill:
- established a court security division at the Office of Court Administration;
- required municipal judges and local administrative judges to establish court security committees;
- changed the requirements for court security personnel certification;
- changed statutes relating to judges’ and their spouses’ personal security and privacy; and
- authorized any commissioned police officer in the state to provide personal security to judges.
Sen. Cornyn’s bill is co-sponsored by Democrats and Republicans from New Hampshire, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Arizona.
The bill has been endorsed by the Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal, All Rise, National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers, National Association for Court Management, American Judges Association, National Center for State Courts, and the National District Attorneys Association.
ENDNOTES
1 https://www.untsystem.edu/news/untd-col-hosts-cornyn-judicial-threat-legislation.php.
2 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3984/text.
3 https://www.sji.gov/grants/project-grants/.
4 https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1436212/court-security-report-and-recommendations-final-w-cover.pdf.
5 https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1442095/sb-42-clean-version.pdf.