In the waning days of a Congressional session (this one, the 117th), there is often a rush from both chambers to pass legislation that’s been pending, especially in the event of a flip of power in one or both come the next calendar year.

As a result, a lot gets passed, and some vital bills can fall through the cracks of media attention. Another creative way to breathe life into seemingly dead legislation is to include it as a part of a bigger piece of legislation that will pass.

The latter is the journey for the recently-passed Daniel Anderl Security and Privacy Act, which following Senate approval as part of the National Defense and Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2023, will head to President Joe Biden’s desk for a final signature in the coming days.

Introduced in the Senate by New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and in the House by New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the bill was named in honor of Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of New Jersey Federal Judge Esther Salas.

On July 19, 2020, a former litigant in Salas’ courtroom appeared knocking at her front door. When her son Daniel answered, the individual shot him and Salas’ husband, Mark Anderl. While Mark was critically injured, Daniel died from his wounds. The assailant would later be found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound the next day, July 20. 

The individual had found Salas’ address using public information found online. Daniel’s murder sparked a major conversation in the following weeks about the necessity of having such information public and the danger it posed for judges like Salas.

A year after Daniel’s murder, Menendez and Sherrill introduced the bill to Congress. It prohibits federal agencies and private businesses from publicly posting certain personal information of federal judges and their immediate family members. The legislation also requires agencies to remove personal information upon written request from the federal judge concerned. Deal brokers can also not purchase or sell the information, and programs will be established at local and state levels to protect judge privacy.

For the legislators behind the bill — Menendez, Sherrill and a number of other cosponsors like Senator Cory Booker — its final passage on Dec. 15, 2022 means the fulfillment of a promise they made to Judge Salas in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“We swore to act swiftly, and to never stop fighting until we passed legislation that paid tribute to Daniel’s legacy by protecting judges and their families from future threats. With today’s Senate passage of the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, we kept our promise,” read a joint statement released by Menendez, Sherrill and Booker.

In the end, it was Sherrill who got the bill included in the NDAA of 2023, per an announcement from her office on Dec. 8. She also highlighted how it, and the recently passed Supreme Court Police Parity Act of 2022, will go a long way in protecting judges and their families in and out of the courtroom. 

The Supreme Court Police Parity Act, a much more controversial piece of legislation was passed in response to protests occurring outside the houses of U.S. Supreme Court Justices in the aftermath of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. 

“This commonsense bill will ensure the privacy and security of all federal judges, as well as their families, while they work to protect the rule of law and our Constitution,” Sherrill said of the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act.

Judge Salas also released her own statement on Friday, Dec. 16, applauding Congress’ passage of the bill to honor her late son.

“I want to thank Congress for honoring my son Daniel’s memory, and for helping protect my brothers and sisters on the bench,” said Salas. “Judges, and their families, should not live in fear for doing the job they are sworn to do. As a nation and as a people, we cannot accept this.”