Overview
- On Tuesday, Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett made the first Supreme Court appropriations testimony since 2019 to present the court’s roughly $228 million FY2027 request and to explain why security spending must rise.
- The request would add about six security agents per justice at a cost of roughly $14.6 million, create an off-site residential security command post, hire more Supreme Court police and fund new cybersecurity staff.
- Both justices described recent, concrete threats that shaped the appeal, including a swatting call to Barrett’s home, anonymous threatening packages, and the 2022 assassination attempt near Justice Kavanaugh’s residence.
- Lawmakers from both parties expressed sympathy for the safety needs but pressed the justices on wider issues such as judicial ethics enforcement, leaks and the court’s fast-track emergency docket, linking public trust to personal risk.
- The request follows multi-year increases in reported threats to judges and a shift this year from U.S. Marshals Service protection toward more in-house Supreme Court Police coverage, and Congress will now weigh the appropriation through the regular budget process.