Supreme Court justices tell Congress their safety is at risk and more must be spent on security

"I didn't expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was, why I had to wear one," she said.

She and Justice Elena Kagan testified before appropriations panels in the House and Senate in support of a request to increase security funding for members of the nation's highest court.

Judges around the country have seen a rise in threats of violence and intimidation, including fake 911 swatting calls and pizza deliveries in the name of a judge's murdered son.

Kagan condemned political rhetoric that turns up the temperature.

"Whatever political figure says them, whatever party that political figure is a member of, these statements are really unhelpful," she said. "They're dangerous in terms of individual justices' security."

The hearings came two weeks after the conservative-majority court finished handing down a series of major opinions, including a decision that increased President Donald Trump's power over federal regulatory agencies and another that rejected his wide-ranging tariffs, sparking harsh personal criticism.

It was the first time justices have testified before Congress since 2019, and the two justices are faced wide-ranging questions about the court's work.

Security is central to the Supreme Court's budget request

The Supreme Court requested a total of $228 million for next fiscal year, a roughly 10% increase over the year before. About $18 million of that is for maintaining the building and grounds.

Much of the requested operating-budget increase, $14.6 million, would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

An additional $2 million would fund an off-site residential security post aimed at making emergency responses faster, as well as increasing the number of Supreme Court police officers.

The U.S. Marshals Service, responsible for protecting judges, reported 564 threats in the government fiscal year that ended in September, an increase from the year before.

That total includes threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country, though the nine-member Supreme Court has not been immune.

In May, Barrett's security detail worked with local officers to deal quickly with a swatting call after her teenage son opened the door to find the street full of police cars responding to a fake 911 call. Last year, her sister was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found.

In 2022, shortly after the leak of a draft opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties. Threats to the Supreme Court increased after that leak, and have continued to grow, including an expected 38% increase this year, Kagan said.

Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats to all U.S. judges, saying during a speech in March that criticism of judicial opinions is understandable, but personally directed hostility is "dangerous, and it's got to stop."