WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four sitting federal judges warned during an online forum that violent threats against the judiciary are increasing but will not deter their work. The judges spoke at a forum hosted by Speak Up for Justice, a legal group formed to defend the judiciary and the rule of law.

Chief Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said the level of threats exceeded her expectations. "I don't think being a federal judge is a job for the fainthearted. What I probably did not expect to quite this degree is the level of vitriol and the types of violent threats that have come across my desk over the years," Gee said during the forum.

The U.S. Marshals Service says there have been 314 investigations involving 202 judges since October. Judges have received angry voicemails and threats, as well as a series of anonymous pizza deliveries to their homes that judges saw as intimidation.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, based in Washington, D.C., has faced threats after making rulings. In February, Reyes read aloud in her courtroom threats she received after blocking the Trump administration from removing protected status from Haitian immigrants. She also ruled against the Trump administration's attempt to ban transgender people from the military, though the U.S. Supreme Court later allowed the ban to go into effect.

U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams Court, based in California, blamed information gaps for fueling hostility toward judges. "A big part of the driving force behind the energy that's behind the threats to the judiciary is the fact that there is an information vacuum in the internet and on social media," Court said.

Some Republicans have called for judges who ruled against Donald Trump to be impeached. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court has said "Personal attacks against judges are dangerous and have got to stop."

The pizza deliveries may be linked to foreign actors. The Trump administration's effort to block Reyes's ruling on Haitian immigrants is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court.