Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett will implore House and Senate lawmakers Tuesday to provide millions of dollars more for security during a pair of rare hearings in which the justices will take on a wide range of questions from lawmakers for the first time since before the pandemic.
Kagan focused her testimony before a House subcommittee on the increase in threats faced by Supreme Court justices and other federal judges. There has been a spike in threats aimed at the justices in recent years.
“For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,” Kagan told House lawmakers. “But, as the chief justice has said, all members of the court continue to do their jobs as they believe legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.”
Liberal justice Kagan and Barrett, who was placed on the high court by President Donald Trump, are appearing before House and Senate appropriations subcommittees to make a pitch for additional security funding. Justices last testified before Congress in 2019.
The judiciary has requested nearly $921 million for security overall, a $29 million increase compared to last year, for frontline security forces at federal courthouses. The ask includes an increase of nearly $15 million to make members of the Supreme Court Police available to protect the justices and their families, including at their homes.
