Barrett tells House panel Supreme Court faces high security threats
Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan appeared before House appropriators as the Supreme Court seeks security funding in its 2027 budget request.
By Jordan Bell · Startups & Deals Reporter
· 2 min read
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told House lawmakers Tuesday that threats against her and other federal judges remain elevated, tying the issue directly to the court’s budget request for 2027.
The testimony puts a basic government funding issue in sharper view: security for judges is now part of what the Supreme Court says it needs Congress to fund. A budget request is the court’s formal ask for federal money, and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government reviews that request as part of Congress’ spending process.
Barrett appeared before the subcommittee with Justice Elena Kagan on Capitol Hill in Washington. Barrett told lawmakers that “the threat level” facing her and other federal judges “is really high.”
She said the numbers behind those threats can sound distant until a person is targeted. “Those statistics sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not,” Barrett told the panel.
Barrett also described security measures taken after a leak to a news outlet involving an opinion that reversed the Supreme Court decision that had recognized a constitutional right to abortion. She told lawmakers that her security team gave her a bulletproof vest after that leak.
In another example, Barrett said she had recently been targeted in a “swatting” incident. Swatting is when someone falsely reports a dangerous emergency to police, with the aim of drawing an armed law enforcement response to another person’s location.
Barrett said the caller falsely claimed there had been a shooting and raised voices in her home. She did not describe the incident as hypothetical; she presented it to lawmakers as a recent example of the risks facing judges.
Kagan testified alongside Barrett as the court sought additional funding for security. Their appearance marked the first time Supreme Court justices have testified before Congress since 2019, when Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito appeared before the same subcommittee to discuss the court’s budget request.
The hearing centered on the Supreme Court’s budget, but Barrett’s remarks focused attention on the personal safety side of that request. For everyday investors and taxpayers, the mechanism is straightforward: Congress controls federal spending, and agencies and courts must justify their requests through hearings like this one before lawmakers decide what to approve.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
