Kagan and Barrett Ask Congress for $14.6M More in Security Funding

Article excerpt

Two Supreme Court justices who agree on very little else sat side by side before House lawmakers this week to deliver the same message: the threats against them are getting worse, and the money to address those threats is running short. Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett appeared together on Capitol Hill to argue for a $14.6 million increase in the court's security budget, the first time sitting justices have testified before Congress since 2019. Barrett spoke directly about the personal toll, telling lawmakers that the surge in threats against her and her colleagues is increasingly bleeding into her family life. The pairing itself was notable, a liberal stalwart and a conservative firebrand presenting a united front at a moment when the court's public standing is deeply fractured. Security for the justices became a urgent policy question after a 2022 incident in which an armed man was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home, and the court has been operating under heightened protection ever since. The budget request reflects how that elevated threat posture has become a permanent, expensive fixture rather than a temporary response to a single incident.