Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan appeared before Congress on July 14 to ask for more cash to beef up security.
The request comes amid increasing threats to members of the court over the last few years, especially following the leak of an opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
In her opening statement, Barrett told the representatives that the security threats had forced her children to “think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about.”
“Maybe I lack imagination, but 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 told the House Appropriations Committee.
She also mentioned an incident from May when her teenage son was on his way out to meet friends, only to see police cars surrounding their house. Someone had called in a false report of “gun shots and raised voices” in the home, a practice known as “swatting.”
Fortunately, she said, her personal security team was able to diffuse the situation.
Kagan also said the security protocol has ramped up since she joined the Court in 2010. At that time, she said, law enforcement was focused on protecting the Supreme Court building itself; she didn’t have a security team of her own and only needed security personnel during public appearances.
That began to change around 2017, she said, when security details were assigned to all of the justices instead of just Chief Justice John Roberts.
After the Dobbs leak, security was assigned to the justices’ homes. An increase in online attacks also forced the justices to ask for more cybersecurity personnel.
Shortly after that decision leaked, a man named Nicholas Roske was arrested after he attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh outside his home. He was later convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison; the Justice Department has appealed that sentence.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) asked the justices what could be done to “turn down the volume” and address the underlying cause of violent threats against members of the court and other public officials.
“I turn off the water before I start mopping up around the kitchen,” she said.
Kagan said that was a question better directed at the Justice Department.
“We have no power to prosecute or not prosecute particular crimes or to decide where the priorities lie,” she said.
