{"id":11281,"date":"2026-07-20T06:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11281"},"modified":"2026-07-20T06:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:42:12","slug":"supreme-court-warns-congress-threats-are-rising-and-the-court-needs-more-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11281","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court warns Congress threats are rising and the court needs more security"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/7AhOKUq0pu55apnLwPAMqhNPATA=\/0x559:6000x3934\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/14\/1784043202965.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Justice Elena Kagan warned Congress on Tuesday that police expect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/09\/19\/supreme-court-justices-threats-man-arrested\" target=\"_blank\">threats<\/a> against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/04\/16\/supreme-court-divisions-public-criticism-justices\" target=\"_blank\">Supreme Court<\/a> justices to rise nearly 40% this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> As courts play a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/02\/supreme-court-congress-trump-executive-power\" target=\"_blank\">bigger role<\/a> in deciding the nation&#8217;s most contentious policy fights, anger from the losing side is turning into threats that risk undermining the court&#8217;s independence.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>By the numbers:<\/strong> The Supreme Court Police Department expects a &#8220;very substantial&#8221; 38% increase in threats this year, following a 25% increase last year, Kagan told the House Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Similarly, threats against Congress are up 50% this year, per the Capitol Police chief&#8217;s recent testimony, Kagan noted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>&#8220;Those statistics sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not,&#8221; Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/09\/05\/trump-supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett-interview\" target=\"_blank\">Amy Coney Barrett<\/a>, who also attended the hearing, said.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barrett added that after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/01\/20\/supreme-court-leak-justices-interviewed\" target=\"_blank\">Dobbs<\/a> decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/05\/03\/supreme-court-leak-roe-v-wade\" target=\"_blank\">leaked<\/a> \u2014 prompting a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/07\/29\/roske-attempted-murder-kavanaugh-fbi-affidavit\" target=\"_blank\">California man<\/a> to plot the killing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and potentially other justices \u2014 her security detail sent her home with a bulletproof vest, which her 12-year-old son then asked her about. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Kagan added that &#8220;for some of us, those threats have come very close.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>She says the court is wary of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/01\/01\/supreme-court-chief-justice-roberts-year-end-report-2024\" target=\"_blank\">dangers<\/a> but the justices will continue to do their jobs as they &#8220;believe legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> The court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/document\/section-01a-supreme-court-salaries-and-expenses-fy2027.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">requested<\/a> $18.9 million to expand personal protection, build an off-site security command post and hire cybersecurity experts. The largest line item, $14.6 million, would add six protection agents per justice plus 25 security officers at the court and support staff.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kagan said the court needs the extra cash because it needs new physical security systems, expanded residential security, and additional cybersecurity resources as online attacks have grown in &#8220;number and sophistication.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re watching:<\/strong> Kagan and Barrett will again testify this afternoon at 2pm ET, this time before the Senate Appropriations Committee&#8217;s Financial Services and General Government subcommittee.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Go deeper:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/14\/american-low-confidence-institutions-poll\" target=\"_blank\">America&#8217;s trust in institutions keeps tanking<\/a><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justice Elena Kagan warned Congress on Tuesday that police expect threats against Supreme Court justices to rise nearly 40% this year. Why it matters: As courts play a bigger role in deciding the nation&#8217;s most contentious policy fights, anger from the losing side is turning into threats that risk undermining the court&#8217;s independence. By the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/7AhOKUq0pu55apnLwPAMqhNPATA=\/0x559:6000x3934\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/14\/1784043202965.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}