Supreme court justices testify to House on budget request to increase security

Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett appear before House lawmakers in rare testimony to ask for more protection

Supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett told House lawmakers that a sharp rise in threats against her and other justices is increasingly affecting her personal and family lives.

Barrett and fellow supreme court justice Elena Kagan made the case for increased security in rare House testimony to discuss the court’s budget request. The last time a sitting justice answered questions on Capitol Hill was 2019.

Barrett outlined examples of how her security had increased since joining the court, particularly after the Dobbs decision was leaked in 2022. Barrett said she had to take a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son.

“My security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest, and I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, and he wanted to know what it was and why I had it,” she said.

“I didn’t expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one.”

In their appearance, the justices confirmed that each was assigned “between four and eight members of the security detail”. Barrett added that “in particular moments” when a member of the bench was under particular threat, the number increased.

“We’d like to increase that over time when we get to our full staffing needs,” Kagan added.

Judges around the country have seen a rise in threats of violence and intimidation, including fake 911 swatting calls and pizza deliveries in the name of a judge’s murdered son.

Kagan condemned political rhetoric that turns up the temperature.

“Whatever political figure says them, whatever party that political figure is a member of, these statements are really unhelpful,” she said. “They’re dangerous in terms of individual justices’ security.”

The supreme court has requested $228m for the next fiscal year, a roughly 10% increase. Some $14.6m would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

An additional $2m would fund an off-site residential security post and more supreme court police.

Democrat Steny Hoyer, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee, said in his opening statement: “With a deeply divided country and increasingly violent rhetoric being directed at judges, Congress must provide sufficient funding to ensure the safety of all judicial personnel.

“At the same time, while we take measures to protect the physical safety of judges and court staff, Congress also has a responsibility to safeguard the independence of our judiciary and its ability to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans. Part of that is making certain that there is adequate funding for the public defenders.”

Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the House appropriations committee, said the supreme court must provide more transparency through “increased financial disclosure requirements and a binding, enforceable code of ethics”.

This comes as justice Clarence Thomas has faced heavy scrutiny for accepting luxury travel, private jet flights and extended vacations from the billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow without reporting them on annual financial disclosures, per several reports .

DeLauro said the court’s formal code of conduct, implemented in 2023 and only requiring voluntary disclosures, was “woefully insufficient”.

“This is to provide the public with the reassurance that they deserve that when a decision is handed down, it is the result of rigorous constitution analysis, not private parochial interests,” the Connecticut Democrat added.

Barrett also told the lawmakers that she was recently subject to a swatting incident at her home.

“One of my teenage sons opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street it was full of police cars who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home,” she said. “I was very, very grateful that I had supreme court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm, and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home.”

In 2022, shortly after the Roe v Wade leak, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties.

Chief justice John Roberts has condemned the threats to all US judges, saying personally directed hostility is “dangerous, and it’s got to stop”.