Apr. 10, 2026
The new threat landscape for judges
A backpack bombing at a Santa Maria courthouse and rising threats against judges have pushed California's chief justice and Judicial Council to make judicial security a top legislative priority, including a bill to let judges shield their home addresses from public records.
The bomb in a backpack went off at the lobby security checkpoint near the entrance to Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge John F. McGregor's Department 9 at the Santa Maria Courthouse at 8:48 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2024.
"I just keep playing it over and over in my head, what happened," said a shaken paralegal who'd been nearby "You see the boom and the blast and then the smoke. It was scary." Five people were injured.
It was one of the judicia...
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