Supreme Court to ask Congress for millions to bolster justice security
In a rare move Tuesday, two U.S. Supreme Court justices will testify before House and Senate appropriations subcommittees as they seek support for a budget request that includes funding for a new security facility and other measures aimed at protecting the high court.
Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett will become the first Supreme Court justices to testify before Congress since 2019.
What they are seeking
The proposal includes $6.5 million to build a separate security screening facility where visitors would be screened before entering the Supreme Court building.
The request comes as threats against justices have increased, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Threats against justices and judges
Earlier this year, Congress approved a $30 million increase to the Supreme Court’s security budget after the Marshals Service reported 166 threats against federal judges since October 2025, following 560 reported threats the previous year.
According to The New York Times, Kagan, a liberal, and Coney Barrett, a conservative, are expected to describe how escalating threats following several high-profile Supreme Court decisions have changed life for the justices.
In May, Barrett was the target of a swatting incident at her family’s home in Northern Virginia. A false report of gunfire prompted a large law enforcement response despite no emergency.
In 2025, police in South Carolina also responded to the home of Barrett’s sister after a false report claiming a pipe bomb had been placed in the family’s mailbox.
Following the June 2022 leak of the draft opinion that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade, an armed California man traveled to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home intending to kill him.
U.S. Attorney Kelly O’Hayes for the District of Maryland said, “The attempt to assassinate a Supreme Court Justice is an extreme, unconscionable act that must be met with the full weight of the law.”
The man is now serving a 97-month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to multiple charges.
The need for additional security
As a result of incidents like these, the justices now receive around-the-clock security at their homes, and the court’s police force accompanies them whenever they travel.
Beyond the new screening facility, the court is requesting $14.6 million to hire 25 additional police officers and help cover security costs when justices travel outside Washington.
The request also includes funding for an off-site command center that would oversee security at the justices’ homes and improve emergency response times.
Justice Clarence Thomas said at a judicial conference in May that security concerns have already altered long-standing traditions.
“Because of security concerns, we’re not able to move around as much as I used to,” Thomas said, noting he no longer takes law clerks on an annual trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, recently said she supports providing the justices with the security they need but wants to hear directly how the additional funding would be used.
The Supreme Court recently concluded its term with major rulings on birthright citizenship and, earlier, congressional redistricting that critics argue weakened the Voting Rights Act.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
