Daniel’s Law Expansion Renews Debate Over Two-Tiered Justice System

The proposed expansion of New Jersey’s Daniel’s Law has ignited fresh criticism from anti-establishment progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick, who argues the statute represents a broader pattern of unequal justice in America where public officials and the powerful receive protections unavailable to ordinary citizens.

McCormick, who ran against former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez in 2028 and plans to primary incumbent Trump-loving Cory Booker, contends that the law’s evolution from a targeted response to tragedy into a shroud on public information.

Others say the law spawned a “cottage industry” of litigation, but McCormick insisted that it exemplifies a two-tiered system of justice.

Menendez initiated the federal version of Daniel’s Law before his resignation following his criminal conviction for bribery and betrayal.

“American citizens need better protection from crime and violence,” McCormick said. “We’re not in need of disparate treatment for the rich and poor, or suppression of information, mass surveillance. Justice is a simple concept, but in the United States, we have justice for some.”

When then-Gov. Phil Murphy signed Daniel’s Law in 2020, it prohibited disclosure of personal information for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers and their family members.

The legislation was a response to the 2020 killing of Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, by a deranged attorney who had targeted the judge at her home.

Two years later, the law was expanded to cover child protective investigators. In 2023, it was amended to create a civil enforcement mechanism allowing covered people to designate agents to demand companies remove their data from the internet, creating what critics describe as a “lawsuit cottage industry.”

Many open sources of public c information--from property ownership records to financial disclosure reports of public officials--have disappeared or were entirely redacted in an abundance of caution due to the law.

According to a New Jersey courts notice, the Supreme Court has received an application for multicounty litigation designation involving Daniel’s Law compliance matters, where plaintiffs seek to hold a data broker accountable for unlawfully disclosing covered persons’ home addresses.

That's like a retroactive application of a criminal law, which is unconstitutional, but courts may be influenced by the judge's interest in the case.

A recently introduced bill would add state legislators to the protected classes, creating a system for removing information intended to circumvent lawsuits.

It would also help shield lawmakers from accountability when they are profiting from public service rather than working for the people who elected them.

The incumbent protection measure is sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald and state Sen. Gordon Johnson.

McCormick described the law’s trajectory as “an overreaction to a rare tragedy that addressed a hypothetical situation not remotely connected to the murder of a judge’s son.”

The debate over unequal justice has intensified with the recent release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Department of Justice has kept nearly 48,000 files related to the Epstein probe from public view, despite having released over 2 million pages of documents in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

A Justice Department representative said 47,635 files were “offline” for additional review, containing materials related to unverified allegations against public figures, including President Donald Trump.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department retained duplicate files, files that could jeopardize ongoing investigations, child sexual abuse material, and files disclosing personal information of survivors.

New reports say 47,000 documents have been removed from the DOJ system for review, in violation of the Epstein Transparency Act.

Survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse issued a statement claiming identifying information about them remained in the files “while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected.”

Nineteen individuals signed the letter demanding full release of the files. The Trump administration has ignored those calls and the president failed to recognize Epstein victims who attended the State of the Union address.

Ian Bremmer, president of political risk research firm Eurasia Group, said the Epstein controversy underscores a deeper problem of a justice system that treats the powerful differently.

Trump “said he was going to end this two-tier system of justice. And he has not only not done that, but he’s made it worse,” Bremmer said.

McCormick and other critics point to the 2020 death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, as another example of disparate treatment within the justice system.

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician, was shot and killed by police executing a no-knock warrant at her apartment.

Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, a licensed gun owner with no criminal record, fired one shot believing intruders were entering.

Kenneth Walker was immediately charged with attempted murder, though charges were later dropped following public pressure.

Police later admitted that they were looking for a suspect that was no longer connected to the address where they executed the raid.

The white officers who returned fire were not charged with Taylor’s death.

Former Detective Brett Hankison was convicted on an excessive force charge for endangering neighbors with gunfire and sentenced to nearly three years in prison — the only officer involved in the Taylor raid to serve time.

The National Urban League noted that in “stand your ground” states, when white shooters kill a Black person, they are ruled justified over a third of the time.

When a Black shooter claims self-defense against a white person, that number drops to 3 percent.

A federal judge in December dismissed Louisville’s proposed settlement with the Justice Department over police reforms after the department withdrew its support.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton ruled that “the responsibility to lead the Louisville Metro Police Department in compliance with federal law must remain with the city’s elected representatives and the people they serve.”

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg has pledged to continue reforms, creating a local police reform plan and hiring an independent monitoring group.

The New Jersey bill expanding Daniel’s Law to include state legislators remains under consideration.

Supporters argue the expansion is necessary given increasing political violence, citing the murder of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman.

Critics, including journalists who have used public records to investigate elected officials, contend the measure would shield lawmakers from accountability.

Matt Friedman, a Politico reporter, noted that a 2015 investigation into a lawmaker’s use of Habitat for Humanity would have been “much more challenging” without public records confirming property ownership.

McCormick framed the issue in broader terms: “We have justice for some. That’s not what the founders intended, and it’s not what the American people deserve.”

McCormick said that her primary election opponent, incumbent Trump-loving AIPAC Senator Cory Booker, has failed to sufficiently push back against injustice, because that would mean more than talking points.