Author Indicted For Book On How To Kill A Federal Judge
It's a sign of our times that a 72-year-old disgruntled litigant who authored a "book" on how to murder a federal judge was indicted and faces a lengthy prison term.
There is a delicate balance between a book that describes how to do something, and one that constitutes an imminent and serious threat to do something.
Robert Phillip Ivers, 72, wrote a 236-page “book” that he printed at a local library entitled “How to Kill a Federal Judge.” He gave librarians a flier describing the book as a “five-star blood soaked killing guide.” The librarians alerted authorities.
Ivers was recently indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice, which claims the book represents a threat to assault and murder a federal judge and U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Ivers is also charged with the interstate transmission of threats to injure others. He faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence.
Ivers was earlier convicted of threatening a federal judge in 2018 and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Ivers’s grievance stems from a federal lawsuit he filed against an insurance company that refused to pay him $100,000. U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright of Minnesota summarily dismissed his case. Ivers attempted to refile the claim and was referred to two volunteer attorneys, who told him that Wright’s prior rulings doomed the case.
One of the lawyers told the U.S. Marshals that Ivers responded, "This [expletive] judge stole my life from me" and "stacked the deck" to ensure he lost the case.
The Washington Post reported that Brett Kelley, a lawyer who represented Ivers in prior cases, said much of Ivers book dates back years.
In a statement, Kelley writes, “I am surprised the government decided to charge Mr. Ivers in relation to his book/manifesto. I am not surprised people are extremely offended or disturbed by the content. Aside from some relatively minor changes, the book was a government exhibit in both his 2018 and 2022 cases the latter of which was dismissed.” Kelley said the government “rightly did not charge him in relation to the book in either case because it should not.”
The question may boil down to whether Ivers’s book represents a serious, imminent threat. That seems questionable, given Brett Kelley’s statement that much of the material in Ivers’s book is several years old.
The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech." However, the Supreme Court ruled in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) that speech is unprotected “if it intends to incite imminent harm and is likely to produce it.”
Should it be a federal crime to write a book entitled, “How to Kill a Federal Judge”?
Other authors have written books about how to kill people without being indicted, hauled before a federal court judge, and sentenced to years in prison.
Anarchists Cookbook
One famous example is The Anarchists Cookbook, first published in 1971, which contains instructions on the manufacture of explosives (e.g. Molotov cocktails) and the production of illegal drugs (e.g., LSD). It was written by William Powell, then a teenager, to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Powell said he intended to provide the general population with the skills to fight fascist, capitalist, and communist threats.
Hitman
A notorious book, How to Be A Hitman: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors, was written under the pseudonym, Rex Feral, and published by Paladin Press in 1983.
In 1997, a U.S. appeals court ruled 3–0 that Hit Man was not protected by the free speech/free press clause of the First Amendment and thus Paladin Enterprises could be held liable for a triple murder committed by one of its readers.
Paladin withdrew the book in 1999 after its insurance company acted -contrary to Paladin’s wishes- to settle a six-year-old civil suit filed by the family of a murder victim. A copy of Hit Man was found among the belongings of a Maryland man convicted of the contract killing of three people. The settlement was reportedly for $5 million.
In a statement, Jon Ford, then editorial director of Paladin Press, called the settlement “economic censorship.” Ford said "Paladin had no say in the insurance company's decision and, as we were dependent upon the insurance carrier's financial support, we of necessity had to go along. We are extremely disappointed with this development."
At the time, publishing law expert Martin Garbus said the decision to settle the Hit Man case is "awful, it's terrible; withdrawing the book will only lead to more lawsuits. There are a lot of books with the same kind of information -- Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, for instance. It's nonsense to believe that there are secrets in Hit Man that you can't find anywhere else."
Hit Man was claimed to be written by an experienced assassin but The Washington Post reported the author was actually a divorced mother of two who fabricated much of the material based on mystery novels and movies.
The settlement is believed to be the first in American publishing history in which a publisher was held liable for a crime committed by a reader. Paladin Press was accused of aiding and abetting murder.
How To Kill Your Family
More recently, Bella Mackie, a journalist, wrote a fictional book, How To Kill Your Family, that was celebrated in 2021 as a “wickedly dark romp.” In her debut novel, Mackie describes the adventures of Grace Bernard, who is on a mission to avenge her late single mother by murdering her estranged millionaire father and the rest of his family one by one.
The book was purchased by Netflix for an eight-episode series, which is currently in production. A release date has not been announced. Anya Taylor-Joy, known for her role in Netflix's The Queen's Gambit, is set to star and serve as executive producer.
Attacks on the Rule of Law?
Robert Ivers finds himself in the crosshairs of the judicial branch, which has become highly politicized in recent years and claims it is facing unprecedented threats from the public.
A press release issued by Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson of Minneapolis, states that Ivers is being detained “pending further proceedings.”
The press release states local police arrested Ivers on September 3. Even though Ivers said he was having a heart attack, he was taken to jail. Police later “transferred Ivers to the hospital from the jail. Ivers was subsequently released from the hospital later that night.”
According to Thompson, “Threats to murder a federal judge, a Supreme Court Justice, and a defense attorney are not just words on a page. They are direct attacks on the rule of law. We will not allow violent rhetoric to become routine. When someone threatens our judges, we will answer with swift federal prosecution.”
Police gathered the following evidence from a search of Ivers’s vehicle:
A photo of a former Pope with crosshairs centered on his head;
Twenty copies of a spiral bound printed book titled, “How to Kill a Federal Judge” by Robert Ivers;
Multiple copies of flyers advertising the contents of the book;
“Lists of federal judges”;
A copy of The Anarchist Cookbook;
A white foam box containing a toy replica firearm;
A box of CO2 cartridges;
A container of pellets;
A box of fireworks.
“Various types of writings and many disturbing sketches, apparently drawn by Ivers.”
The Pope and the U.S. Supreme Court Justice allegedly threatened by Ivers were not identified.