Supreme Court Justices Request Urgent Funding Boost to Combat Rising Personal Threats
Washington, Tuesday, 14 July 2026.
Testifying before Congress for the first time since 2019, justices warned of a projected 38% threat increase, citing personal experiences with swatting and bulletproof vests.
A Historic and Bipartisan Congressional Appeal
On Tuesday, July 14, 2026, Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett took the rare step of testifying publicly before congressional appropriators to highlight a severe escalation in security threats against the judiciary [1][2]. Appearing first before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government in the morning, and scheduled to address their Senate counterparts in the afternoon, the justices presented a unified front to request a significant funding boost for fiscal year 2027 [1][2][3]. This joint appearance represents the first time Supreme Court justices have testified before Congress since 2019, when Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito addressed the same subcommittee [1][4]. The primary driver behind the current budget request is a stark and deeply concerning rise in security threats targeting members of the judiciary and their families [1][2].
Breaking Down the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request
The Supreme Court is formally requesting a total budget of nearly $230 million for fiscal year 2027, representing a 10% increase over the current year’s baseline of approximately $209 million [2]. Specifically, the court’s request of $228.4 million for fiscal 2027 is a 10% increase from the $207.8 million appropriated for fiscal year 2026 [1]. To evaluate this change mathematically, the requested increase represents a growth rate of 9.913 percent [1]. A critical portion of this budget—amounting to $14 million—is earmarked specifically for the Supreme Court Police Department to expand protective activities, including residential security, threat assessments, and cybersecurity measures for the justices and their immediate families [2].
The Personal and Quantitative Toll of Escalating Threats
During her testimony, Justice Barrett, who was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump [GPT], shed light on the deeply personal toll these security threats take on the justices. She recounted a chilling incident in May 2026 when her home was targeted by a “swatting” attack, in which a caller falsely reported a shooting to local police [1][2]. Furthermore, Barrett detailed the emotional gravity of having to explain to her children what a bulletproof vest was, after security officials provided her with one following the leak of the draft opinion in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion [1][2]. Barrett also noted that she and other justices have received threatening anonymous deliveries designed to intimidate them, frequently sent in the name of Judge Esther Salas’s son, who was tragically murdered in 2020 [2].
Deepening Polarization and the Systemic Impact
The escalating threat environment is not a sudden phenomenon but the culmination of several years of intense public friction and targeted actions. Notable past incidents include the May 2022 leak of the Dobbs draft decision, followed by the June 2022 attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland residence [2]. The perpetrator of that attempt, Sophie Roske, was subsequently sentenced to eight years in federal prison in 2025 [2]. The threats have continued unabated, with death threats directed at Chief Justice John Roberts in July 2023, and a major plot targeting six justices uncovered in September 2024 [2]. This sequence of events prompted Chief Justice Roberts to declare that the targeted hostility “has got to stop,” underlining the bipartisan concern within the judiciary regarding physical safety [2].