Suspect arrested after printing his ‘How to Kill a Federal Judge’ manifesto at a local library, cops say
Federal prosecutors charged a Minnesota man Tuesday with threatening to assault and murder a federal judge after he allegedly printed and distributed a 236-page manifesto titled How to Kill a Federal Judge at a local library.
Robert Phillip Ivers, 72, previously convicted in 2019 for threatening to kill a federal judge, was arrested earlier this month at the Wayzata Library after printing the document, which allegedly had a gun on it.
According to the complaint, Ivers showed the manifesto to library staff and handed them a three-page flyer promoting it before leaving, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
The flyer described the document as a guide “designed to teach extremists on how to plan, train, hunt, stalk and kill anyone, including judges, their family members, politicians and more!”
The flyer claimed Ivers had been “falsely indicted by a deceived U.S. grand jury” and ominously declared that the “harsh reality is that judges are going to die.”
Prosecutors said the manifesto centered on perceived injustices by the judicial system and detailed Ivers’ desire for revenge. It allegedly included disturbing sketches, various writings and handwritten threats to kill judges, their children, and pets.
He explicitly stated he intended to instill fear, writing, “If this book doesn’t instill fear in you then your 9 (sic) already dead.”
During the investigation, authorities discovered that an Episcopal church in Minnetonka had reported Ivers to police on August 28 for alleged “abnormal behavior” after he said he planned to attend events involving children and state lawmakers.
Ivers was taken into police custody on the night of September 3, and during transport, he claimed he was having a heart attack. He was briefly hospitalized and then released later that night.
A search of Ivers’ vehicle revealed further troubling evidence, including 20 spiral-bound copies of the manifesto, a replica firearm, a photo of the former pope marked with crosshairs, a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook, fireworks, CO₂ cartridges with pellets, and lists naming multiple federal judges, including those connected to Ivers’ past legal cases, prosecutors said.
On September 5, the Wayzata Police Department re-arrested Ivers. During a subsequent interview, he admitted to showing his manifesto to library staff. When asked by law enforcement whether he believed his book might have frightened anyone, Ivers shouted, “It was supposed to!”
The earlier 2019 case had involved threats against U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright and was presided over by U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt.
During his initial court appearance on September 9, Ivers was ordered detained pending a hearing scheduled for Friday.
His court-appointed attorney, Brett Kelley, was reportedly surprised at the new charges, noting that the manifesto had previously served as a government exhibit in earlier proceedings and had not led to any charges at that time.
“The government rightly did not charge him in relation to the book in either case because it should not,” Kelley said, according to Reuters.
This case emerges amid growing alarm over threats targeting the federal judiciary. The U.S. Marshals Service reported that as of September 2, the 2025 fiscal year had seen 513 threats against 364 judges, the outlet reports.
