Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8591 To provide for judicial security and privacy. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 13, 2020 Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. CARTER of Texas, and Ms. NORTON) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary A BILL To provide for judicial security and privacy. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Daniel Anderl Judicial 4 Security and Privacy Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Members of the Federal judiciary perform 8 the important function of interpreting our Constitu- 9 tion and administering justice in a fair and impartial 10 manner. 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8591 IH (2) Federal judges must be able to act without 1 fear of personal reprisal from individuals affected by 2 the decisions they make in the course of carrying out 3 their public duties. 4 (3) In recent years, partially as a result of the 5 rise in the use of social media and online access to 6 information, members of the Federal judiciary have 7 been exposed to an increased number of personal 8 threats in connection to their role. 9 (4) Between 2015 and 2019, threats and other 10 inappropriate communications against Federal 11 judges and other judiciary personnel increased from 12 926 in 2015 to approximately 4,449 in 2019. 13 (5) Over the past decade, several members of 14 the Federal judiciary have experienced acts of vio- 15 lence against themselves or a family member in con- 16 nection to their Federal judiciary role, including the 17 murder of the family of United States District 18 Judge for the Northern District of Illinois Joan 19 Lefkow in 2005. 20 (6) On Sunday July 19, 2020, an assailant 21 went to the home of Esther Salas, a judge for the 22 United States District Court for the District of New 23 Jersey, impersonating a package delivery driver, 24 opening fire upon arrival, and killing Daniel Anderl, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8591 IH the 20-year-old son of Judge Salas, and seriously 1 wounding Mark Anderl, her husband. 2 (7) In the aftermath of the recent tragedy that 3 occurred to Judge Salas and in response to the con- 4 tinuous rise of threats against members of the Fed- 5 eral judiciary, there is an immediate need for en- 6 hanced security procedures and increased availability 7 of tools to protect Federal judges and their families. 8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9 In this Act: 10 (1) AT-RISK INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘at-risk 11 individual’’ means— 12 (A) a Federal judge; or 13 (B) a senior, recalled, or retired Federal 14 judge. 15 (2) DATA BROKER.—The term ‘‘data broker’’ 16 means a commercial entity that collects, assembles, 17 or maintains personal information concerning an in- 18 dividual who is not a customer or an employee of 19 that entity in order to sell the information or provide 20 third party access to the information. 21 (3) DIRECTIONS.—The term ‘‘directions’’ mean 22 directions for navigation of surface streets that will 23 lead to the specific covered address, even if the ad- 24 dress is not published. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8591 IH (4) FEDERAL JUDGE.—The term ‘‘Federal 1 judge’’ means— 2 (A) a justice or judge of the United States, 3 as those terms are defined in section 451 of 4 title 28, United States Code; 5 (B) a bankruptcy judge appointed under 6 section 152 of title 28, United States Code; 7 (C) a United States magistrate judge ap- 8 pointed under section 631 of title 28, United 9 States Code; 10 (D) a judge confirmed by the United 11 States Senate and empowered by statute in any 12 commonwealth, territory, or possession to per- 13 form the duties of a Federal judge; and 14 (E) a judge of the United States Court of 15 Federal Claims appointed under section 171 of 16 title 28, United States Code. 17 (5) GOVERNMENT AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Gov- 18 ernment agency’’ means any department enumerated 19 in section 1 of title 5 of the United States Code, 20 independent establishment, commission, administra- 21 tion, authority, board or bureau of the United States 22 or any corporation in which the United States has 23 a proprietary interest. The term includes all such in- 24 stitutions, offices, and any other bodies politic and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8591 IH corporate of the United States Government created 1 by the constitution or statute, whether in the execu- 2 tive, judicial, or legislative branch; all units and cor- 3 porate outgrowths created by Executive order of the 4 President or any constitutional officer, by the Su- 5 preme Court of the United States, or by resolution 6 of the United States Congress. 7 (6) IMMEDIATE FAMILY.—The term ‘‘immediate 8 family’’ means a spouse, child, parent, or any other 9 blood relative of an at-risk individual who lives in 10 the same residence as the at-risk individual. 11 (7) JUDGES’ PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN- 12 FORMATION.—The term ‘‘judges’ personally identifi- 13 able information’’ means— 14 (A) a home address, including primary res- 15 idence or vacation home address, of an at-risk 16 individual; 17 (B) home, personal mobile, or the direct 18 telephone line to the private chambers of an at- 19 risk individual; 20 (C) the personal email address of an at- 21 risk individual; 22 (D) the social security number, driver’s li- 23 cense number, or voter registration information 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8591 IH that includes a home address of an at-risk indi- 1 vidual; 2 (E) a bank account or credit or debit card 3 information of an at-risk individual; 4 (F) property tax records or any property 5 ownership records of an at-risk individual, in- 6 cluding a secondary residence and any invest- 7 ment property of at which an at-risk individual 8 resides for part of a year; 9 (G) birth and marriage records of an at- 10 risk individual; 11 (H) vehicle registration information of an 12 at-risk individual; 13 (I) identification of children of an at-risk 14 individual under the age of 18; 15 (J) date of birth of an at-risk individual; 16 (K) directions to a home of an at-risk indi- 17 vidual or immediate family of an at-risk indi- 18 vidual; 19 (L) a photograph of any vehicle including 20 license plate or home including address of an 21 at-risk individual or immediate family of an at- 22 risk individual; 23 (M) the name and location of a school or 24 day care facility attended by a child of an at- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8591 IH risk individual or immediate family of an at-risk 1 individual; or 2 (N) the name and location of an employer 3 of an immediate family member of an at-risk 4 individual. 5 (8) SOCIAL MEDIA.—The term ‘‘social media’’ 6 means any online electronic medium, a live-chat sys- 7 tem, or an electronic dating service— 8 (A) that primarily serves as a medium for 9 users to interact with content generated by 10 other third-party users of the medium; 11 (B) that enables users to create accounts 12 or profiles specific to the medium or to import 13 profiles from another medium; and 14 (C) that enables one or more users to gen- 15 erate content that can be viewed by other third- 16 party users of the medium. 17 SEC. 4. PROTECTING JUDGES’ PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE 18 INFORMATION IN PUBLIC RECORDS. 19 (a) GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each at-risk individual 21 may— 22 (A) file written notice of the status of the 23 individual as an at-risk individual, for them- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8591 IH selves and immediate family of an at-risk indi- 1 vidual, to each Government agency; and 2 (B) ask each Government agency described 3 in subparagraph (A) to mark as confidential 4 judges’ personally identifiable information. 5 (2) Government agencies shall not publicly post 6 or display publicly available content that includes 7 judges’ personally identifiable information. Govern- 8 ment agencies, upon receipt of a written request in 9 accordance with subsection (a)(1)(A) of this section, 10 shall remove the judges’ personally identifiable infor- 11 mation from publicly available content within 72 12 hours. 13 (b) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 14 (1) GRANT PROGRAM TO PREVENT DISCLOSURE 15 OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OF JUDICIAL OFFI- 16 CERS.— 17 (A) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney Gen- 18 eral shall make grants to prevent the release of 19 personally identifiable information of at-risk in- 20 dividuals to the detriment of such individuals or 21 their families to— 22 (i)(I) a State or unit of local govern- 23 ment (as such terms are defined in section 24 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8591 IH Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 1 10251); or 2 (II) an agency of a State or unit of 3 local government; or 4 (ii) that operates a State or local 5 database or registry that contains person- 6 ally identifying information. 7 (B) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seek- 8 ing a grant under this section shall submit to 9 the Attorney General an application at such 10 time, in such manner, and containing such in- 11 formation as the Attorney General may reason- 12 ably require. 13 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 14 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 15 may be necessary to provide grants to entities de- 16 scribed in paragraph (1) to create or expand pro- 17 grams designed to protect judges’ personally identifi- 18 able information, including through— 19 (A) the creation of programs to redact or 20 remove judges’ personally identifiable informa- 21 tion, upon the request of an at-risk individual, 22 from public records in State agencies; these ef- 23 forts may include but are not limited to hiring 24 a third party to redact or remove judges’ per- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8591 IH sonally identifiable information from public 1 records; 2 (B) the expansion of existing programs 3 that the State may have enacted in an effort to 4 protect judges’ personally identifiable informa- 5 tion; 6 (C) the development or improvement of 7 protocols, procedures, and policies to prevent 8 the release of judges’ personally identifiable in- 9 formation; 10 (D) the defrayment of costs of modifying 11 or improving existing databases and registries 12 to ensure that judges’ personally identifiable in- 13 formation is protected from release; and 14 (E) the development of confidential opt out 15 systems that will enable at-risk individuals to 16 make a single request to keep judges’ personally 17 identifiable information out of multiple data- 18 bases or registries. 19 (3) REPORT.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 21 after the date of enactment of this Act, and bi- 22 ennially thereafter, the Comptroller General of 23 the United States, shall submit to the Com- 24 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8591 IH Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 1 Representatives an annual report that in- 2 cludes— 3 (i) a detailed amount spent by States 4 and local governments on protection of 5 judges’ personally identifiable information; 6 and 7 (ii) where the judges’ personally iden- 8 tifiable information was found. 9 (B) STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 10 States and local governments that receive funds 11 under this section shall submit to the Comp- 12 troller General a report on data described in 13 clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) to be 14 included in the report required under that sub- 15 paragraph. 16 (c) DATA BROKERS AND OTHER BUSINESSES.— 17 (1) PROHIBITION.— 18 (A) DATA BROKERS.—It shall be unlawful 19 for a data broker to sell, license, trade, pur- 20 chase, or otherwise provide or make available 21 for consideration judges’ personally identifiable 22 information. 23 (B) OTHER BUSINESSES.—No person, 24 business, or association shall publicly post or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 8591 IH publicly display on the internet judges’ person- 1 ally identifiable information if the at-risk indi- 2 vidual has, either directly or through an agent, 3 made a written request of that person, business, 4 or association to not disclose the judges’ per- 5 sonally identifiable information of the at-risk in- 6 dividual or that of the at-risk individual’s im- 7 mediate family. 8 (C) LIST.—The Administrative Office of 9 the United States Courts may, upon request, 10 act as an agent and provide data brokers with 11 a current list of Federal judges and their imme- 12 diate family for the purpose of maintaining 13 compliance with this section. 14 (2) REQUIRED CONDUCT.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—After a person, busi- 16 ness, or association has received a written re- 17 quest from an at-risk individual to protect the 18 judges’ personally identifiable information, that 19 person, business, or association shall have 72 20 hours to remove the judges’ personally identifi- 21 able information from the internet. 22 (B) INFORMATION PROTECTED.—After a 23 person, business, or association has received a 24 written request from an at-risk individual, that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8591.IH H8591 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 8591 IH person, business, or association shall ensure 1 that the at-risk individual’s judges’ personally 2 identifiable information is not made availabl [Text truncated for display. 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