On Friday, a group of retired judges will step off a tour bus in a ritzy Michigan suburb after three days of barnstorming through corn fields, cities and coal towns in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They carry with them a message.
In courthouses and public squares, they have marked the nation’s 250th anniversary with a dire warning: The rule of law in America is in grave danger. They will deliver a similar message at a library in Grosse Pointe just outside Detroit 鈥� the last stop on an extraordinary tour to defend judicial independence and bolster trust in courts.
Americans’ confidence in the and has dipped in recent years. The country is more polarized, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the fairness of the judicial system.
Some judges on the tour said in phone interviews this week that the United States was at a precipice.
鈥淟ooking back in history, we have teetered,” former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly said. “This is a moment where we can decide to reinstill those beliefs that we are a country of laws and not of men.鈥�
Judges step off the bench
The four-day tour through the Rust Belt is a sharp departure for a typically reserved and insular branch of government. Federal judges in particular largely limit their comments to the courtroom and written decisions, focusing on the facts of individual cases.
But that restraint is loosening amid a by Trump and other White House officials, the administration’s and its . Trump has called a district judge who ruled against one of his immigration moves 鈥渃rooked鈥� and suggested with no evidence that Supreme Court justices who struck down his tariffs were motivated by foreign interests.
More federal judges have about receiving death threats and profane messages, though they have not blamed Trump or any other officials. Some have in sharply worded opinions that strayed beyond the legal dispute before them. Even U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has weighed in.
In an appearance in March, Roberts said personal criticism of federal judges was . The rare rebuke from the head of the nation’s top court came two days after Trump’s remark about a 鈥渃rooked鈥� judge, though Roberts didn’t mention Trump or anyone else by name.
The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threats against federal judges in the government fiscal year that ended in September, up from 509 the year before.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to say we have moved into an era of lawlessness, but it sometimes feels that way,鈥� said former U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts, who was set to join the bus tour in Michigan.
Timothy Lewis, another former federal judge on the tour, said his concerns about the politicization of the judicial branch reached a tipping point a decade ago, when Senate Republicans thwarted President Barack Obama鈥檚 nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Today, the rule of law is facing an “existential threat” from an ongoing breakdown of norms, according to Lewis, who spent seven years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
鈥淚 have fundamental concerns,” he said, 鈥渁bout where we are headed as a nation.鈥�
Their route has been varied
The tour started Tuesday in the western Pennsylvania town of Greensburg 鈥� once the hub of a thriving coal industry that now lures visitors from nearby Pittsburgh for highland recreation and a historic downtown.
Judges mingled with customers at a coffee shop before speaking at the domed, ornate Westmoreland County Courthouse. Then it was off to Washington, also in western Pennsylvania. The town of 13,000 people, where about 15% of the population is Black, was a key stop on the Underground Railroad and a regional base for the Civil Rights Movement.
From there, the bus headed west for events Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, and the city of Wooster in Amish country. The judges stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant on the way. They spent Thursday in Cleveland before circling Lake Erie north to Michigan.
The two groups that planned the tour 鈥� dubbed 鈥淛ustice in Motion鈥� 鈥� say they were inspired by a similar campaign in Poland in 2021 after that country’s governing party .
Independent Polish judges visited scores of towns to promote the rule of law and teach voters about the country’s constitution. The U.S. tour also aims to educate people.
An effort to combat misinformation about what they do
Maureen O’Connor, a former chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, said judges risk ceding the narrative about their roles and motives to 鈥渧oices of misinformation鈥� if they don’t speak up.
A letter she received years ago, and still keeps, reminds her of that danger. The writer accused O’Connor, a Republican, of betraying her party when she repeatedly struck down Republican-drawn legislative maps as illegal gerrymanders. 鈥淭here was just a basic misunderstanding of what my role was as a judge,鈥� O’Connor said.
O’Connor is among roughly 30 judges, including two former federal judges and a current federal judge, who will participate in the tour. One of the federal judges was nominated by a Democrat, the other two by Republicans. The state judges, some of whom are also still on the bench, represent both parties.
They have been joined by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, former Ohio attorneys general and a few lawyers. The event was put together by the Democracy Rising Collaborative and Keep Our Republic, nonpartisan advocacy groups.
Organizers say they chose stops that would get the judges in front of as many people as possible to build connections and trust. The judges have embraced that mission.
鈥淭he lifeblood of the judiciary is public confidence,鈥� Donnelly, the former Ohio Supreme Court justice, said. 鈥淚f you lose that, it鈥檚 very difficult to get it back.鈥�
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
