A Pizza Arrived With a Dead Boy's Name

The pizza showed up at Judge John McConnell’s house in Providence, R.I., with no one having ordered it. The name on the receipt was Daniel Anderl. That name belongs to the 20-year-old son of federal Judge Esther Salas, who was shot and killed in 2020 by a gunman who posed as a delivery driver. McConnell knew right away what the message was. He called Salas to warn her.

This was not a prank. It was a threat wrapped in something that looked like dinner.

McConnell, a U.S. District Judge, has spoken publicly about a string of threats that followed his rulings against the Trump administration. He blocked a freeze on billions in federal funding in 2025. Soon after, his office fielded hundreds of hostile calls and emails. One voicemail called for his assassination. The U.S. Marshals Service flagged at least six of the threats as credible.

The pizza delivery stood out. McConnell told reporters nothing disturbed him as much as that. Similar deliveries bearing Anderl’s name later turned up at the homes of federal judges in at least seven states. The pattern suggests coordination. It also suggests a message: we know where you live, and we know what happened to her son.

I read the filings and the interviews with a quiet kind of alarm. Not the loud kind that makes you want to post something. The other kind. The kind that makes you sit still and think about what it means for a judge to open a door and find a reminder of a murder on the porch.

Judges are supposed to decide cases based on the law, not on fear. That is the point of the job. When threats start to pile up, the math changes. A judge might still rule the same way. But the weight of the decision grows heavier when your family is in the crosshairs.

The broader picture is unsettling. The U.S. Marshals Service recorded 564 threats against federal judges in fiscal year 2025, up from 509 the year before. Political leaders have added fuel with harsh public attacks on judges who rule against them. The line between criticism and intimidation can blur. Sometimes it disappears.

McConnell’s experience is not unique. Other judges have described similar tactics. Judge Mark Norris, a Trump appointee, has said such deliveries have become routine rather than shocking. That sentence should not make sense. It does now.

What worries me is the danger to the judges. It is the danger to the system. If judges start to feel that certain rulings will bring a storm of threats, the chill can spread. Lawyers will notice. Litigants will notice. The public will notice. Trust in the courts depends on the belief that cases are decided on facts and law, not on who can scare the judge the most.

There are still big gaps in what we know. No one has said who ordered the pizzas. No charges have been filed in connection with the deliveries. The timing of McConnell’s delivery relative to his rulings has not been pinned down in public records. What is clear is the intent. Using the name of a dead child is not an accident. It is a signal.

I keep thinking about Salas. She lost her son in her own home. A lawyer angry with her decisions came to her door pretending to bring a package. He killed Daniel Anderl and wounded her husband before taking his own life. That case is still raw for many people in the judiciary. To drag that name into a new wave of threats feels like a second wound.

McConnell did the right thing when he called Salas. He did not ignore it. He did not shrug it off as a weird mistake. He treated it as what it was: a threat aimed at her and at him and at anyone who might read about it and think twice before ruling against power.

The U.S. Marshals Service has stepped up security for judges in recent years. That helps. It does not fix the culture that makes these threats seem like a valid tactic. When political leaders talk about judges as enemies, it gives cover to people who want to act on that idea. Words matter. They always have.

I am not a lawyer. I do not sit on a bench. But I read the news and I watch how these stories land. The pizza story is strange. It is a warning sign. It shows how far some people are willing to go to punish judges for doing their jobs.

The rule of law depends on judges who can work without fear. That does not mean they never get criticized. It means they do not have to worry that a ruling will bring a gunman to their door or a pizza with a dead boy’s name.

We should be able to say that much without sounding partisan. It is not about left or right. It is about whether we want a system where cases are decided in courtrooms or on porches.

The pizza delivery to McConnell’s home is a small thing in one way. It is just food. But the name on the order turns it into something else. It turns it into a message that says we see you, we know your history, and we are not afraid to use it.

That message is meant to scare. It is working. Judges are talking about it. Marshals are tracking it. The public should pay attention.

I do not have a fix to offer. I only have the feeling that this is a line we should not cross. Once a dead child’s name becomes a tool for intimidation, the ground has shifted. It is hard to get it back.