Supreme court justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett are testifying in front of House lawmakers to discuss the court’s budget request, particularly the need for increased security for the judiciary.
The justices appearing before lawmakers confirmed that each justice 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.
Democrat Steny Hoyer, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee, welcomed the justices and noted that appearances by supreme court justices used to be more common. The last time a sitting justice answered questions on Capitol Hill was 2019.
“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,” Hoyer said in his opening statement.
“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.”
In her opening statement, 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 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 outlined before lawmakers examples of how her security had increased since joining the court, particularly after the Dobbs decision was leaked in 2022.
“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,” Barrett 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.”
Barrett added 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.”
Kagan and Barrett said they still did not appear to know who leaked the Dobbs decision – which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion – four years ago.
“We can’t do our business, we can’t engage in confidential communications,” Kagan said of leaks. “If you think that those views are going to appear on the front page of the newspaper, you pull back. You don’t have the kinds of conversations that I think the court really depends on to do great work.”
