On Monday, U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man with a gun after he asked for directions to the Supreme Court. It comes as threats against judges nationwide have tripled over the past decade.
“According to the U.S. Marshals Service, more than 200 federal judges have had threats made against them in this fiscal year alone,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the ranking member on the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.
“For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,” added Elena Kagan, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court is now seeking an additional $20 million for increased security.
In a rare appearance before Congress, Justices Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett shared about the dangers they and other judges face, explaining how the growing threats have even affected their families.
They urged lawmakers to improve their security.
“Maybe I lack imagination, but I didn’t t expect that performing this service was gonna put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one,” said Justice Barrett.
She testified that after the 2022 abortion ruling, the danger came too close to home.
“When threats to my life were particularly intense a few years ago, around the time of the Dobbs case,” recalled Barrett. “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.”
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Barrett, who was appointed by President Trump in 2020, also confirmed details of a swatting incident in May, when police responded to false reports of violence 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 added.
The justices asked lawmakers to approve a 53 percent increase in security funding over last year’s budget.
“Right now, each of us has a detail between 4 and 8 security people who accompany us pretty much everywhere. So life has changed a great deal for all of us,” said Kagan.
