Police in South Carolina are investigating whether a blaze that burned a judge's home to the ground was set intentionally.
Prior to the fire that engulfed her home, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein had been receiving death threats, after she wrote an opinion in September blocking South Carolina election officials from handing over voter data to the Trump administration.
The Trump administration is seeking voter registration data—which includes personal information such as Social Security numbers—from at least nine states in an effort to try to prove their baseless allegations of voter fraud. Multiple Democratic-controlled states refused to turn over the data, saying the federal government should not be privy to that information.
“Why on Earth does the Department of Justice need the voter information from all 50 states?” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told the Maine Morning Star. “If Congress thought it was appropriate that there be a national voter file, Congress could have authorized the Department of Justice to do that, but they have not.”
South Carolina wanted to comply with the Trump administration's request, but Goodstein blocked the state from doing so, saying that releasing the data would cause “immediate and irreparable damage” to voters’ right to privacy.
Following her ruling, Goodstein had been receiving death threats, according to the local news outlet FITSNews.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon specifically called out Goodstein's ruling.
Goodstein, for her part, had been walking on the beach at the time of the blaze and was unharmed. But her husband was airlifted to a hospital after he sustained multiple injuries from jumping out of a window to safety during the fire.
While it's currently unclear if Goodstein's house was set on fire intentionally, Trump administration officials have been stoking anger against judges who rule against Dear Leader.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon specifically called out Goodstein's ruling, writing in a post on X that she would "allow nothing to stand in the way of our mandate to maintain clean voter rolls."
And odious White House aide Stephen Miller posted this incendiary comment on X about judges who block Trump's unconstitutional actions:
The issue before is now is very simple and clear. There is a large and growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country. It is well organized and funded. And it is shielded by far-left Democrat judges, prosecutors and attorneys general. The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks.
If Goodstein was the victim of politically motivated arson, she would be the latest victim of right-wing violence.
Related | Stats don't lie: Right-wing violence has dominated during past decade
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was the victim of an arson attack at the governor’s mansion. Former Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were assassinated in their home by a Trump supporter, who also shot and gravely wounded State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife before he was captured and his plot to kill multiple Democratic officials was foiled.
However, following the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Republicans have been on a campaign to blame the “left” for the political violence in America—even though data shows that right-wing extremists are the perpetrators of the vast majority of politically motivated attacks in the U.S.
And those same Republicans are using Kirk’s murder as an excuse to strip Democratic groups of their rights.
Correction: A previous version of this story identified Judge Diane Goodstein as a liberal, though her politics are publicly unknown.
