The Metro: Retired from the bench, but not from the fight
Victoria Roberts spent 25 years on the federal bench in Michigan’s Eastern District. Now she is part of an effort by judges of both parties to defend the courts and build community trust as threats against judges surge.
Victoria Roberts joined The Metro on July 8, 2026.
Federal judges across the country have been getting pizzas delivered to their homes that they never ordered. It is an intimidation tactic — a way of saying, “We know where you live.” This is happening after judges rule against the Trump administration. Some have also received hundreds of threatening voicemails after doing so.
These threats are on the rise, and a coalition of judges says they climb each time the Trump administration attacks a ruling.
So this week, something unusual is happening. A group of judges — appointed and elected by both parties — got on a bus. The Justice in Motion tour crossed Pennsylvania and Ohio and are reaching Michigan this week, stopping at the Grosse Pointe Library at 11:30 a.m. on Friday. At these stops, they are doing the one thing their profession trains them not to do: speak out, in public, together, about what is happening to the courts.
Victoria Roberts is among the former judges breaking that silence. She spent 25 years on the federal bench in Michigan’s Eastern District — and she got there as a trailblazer, the first African American woman to lead the State Bar of Michigan. She joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to pull back the curtain on the judicial system, how decisions are made, and whether this moment feels different.
Hear the full conversation using the media player above.
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