In a Texas courtroom far from her California home, a retired Stanford University staffer stood up and said the words that brought a federal case to its close: guilty.
Dolly Kay Patterson, no longer cloaked in the ambiguity of legal wrangling, admitted on Monday that she sent a menacing message aimed squarely at U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. The message, delivered via an online form, landed just days after the judge suspended the FDA’s long-standing approval of mifepristone — the abortion pill at the center of one of the most incendiary legal battles in recent memory.
“Tell this antiabortion judge he needs to watch his back — and that of his kids — the rest of his life!” she wrote on April 16, 2023.
That digital warning now carries a potential five-year prison sentence.
The federal case played out in Dallas, where Patterson had been set to face trial before reversing course with her guilty plea. Though she had previously challenged the government’s version of events, denying she ever admitted guilt when questioned by U.S. Marshals, the courtroom saw a different outcome on Monday — one made possible by a plea agreement that reduced her charges.
Judge Kacsmaryk, appointed by Donald Trump and long a lightning rod in reproductive rights cases, had drawn intense national scrutiny for his ruling against mifepristone. That decision was later undone in 2024 when the Supreme Court dismissed the case on procedural grounds, preserving national access to the medication used in a majority of abortions in the United States.
The Patterson case, though, speaks to more than one message or one judge — it lands amid a rising tide of threats against members of the federal judiciary. A recent investigation revealed a disturbing pattern: anonymous pizzas showing up at judges’ homes, violent threats directed at their families, and a spike in harassment targeting those who’ve ruled against the Trump administration.
Kacsmaryk, during a March 2023 hearing, said his court had endured a “barrage” of voicemails, emails, and warnings since the abortion pill lawsuit began. He wasn’t alone.
Last year, a Florida woman was also sentenced after threatening the same judge — her message invoked a “red dot” and warned him to make “the right decision.” She received 10 months behind bars.
As for Patterson, her sentencing date has not yet been set. But her case has already become another data point in a troubling trend — one where the backlash to courtroom decisions echoes far beyond the courthouse steps.
