Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan testified July 14 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government and then appeared before a Senate appropriations subcommittee to discuss the Supreme Court's fiscal 2027 budget request.
The hearings marked the first time since 2019 that members of the high court have testified on their annual budget request; in 2019 Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito answered questions before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.
The court is seeking $228 million for fiscal 2027, an increase of about $20.5 million from the year before, and the budget request would devote $14.6 million to expand personal protection by adding six agents for each justice, fund 25 additional full-time Supreme Court Police officers, and cover $2 million in residential security costs for the justices' homes; the request also includes roughly $6.5 million to plan an exterior visitor screening facility, about $2.3 million for cybersecurity hires and some funds for travel when the justices are outside the Washington, D.C., region.
Both justices urged Congress to approve additional security funding, with Kagan warning, "For some of us, those threats have come very close," and telling lawmakers the Supreme Court Police is anticipating a 38% increase in threats for 2026; as of July 1 there have been 370 threats to judges this fiscal year and the Marshals Service has conducted 512 investigations, and the Marshals Service reported 564 threats in the previous fiscal year.
Barrett described the personal toll of the heightened threat environment, saying she brought a bulletproof vest home after the leak of the Dobbs draft and had to explain it to her then-12-year-old son, and told senators she was the target of a swatting incident roughly six weeks ago that prompted a local police response; she also said anonymous pizza deliveries sent in the name of Daniel Anderl appear intended to intimidate judges.
The testimony came against a backdrop of earlier security moves: security measures were increased in May 2022 after the leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and protesters gathered outside the homes of several justices, and on June 8, 2022 a man identified in court filings as Nicholas Roske was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home; Roske pleaded guilty in April 2025 to attempting to kill or kidnap a Supreme Court justice and was sentenced in October 2025 to eight years and one month in prison, and recent reports say Roske now goes by Sophie Roske.
The justices fielded questions about the court's code of conduct, adopted in 2023, and about what lawmakers call the court's "shadow docket," with Kagan saying the court has "gotten more experienced" in handling emergency requests and saying she supports an enforcement mechanism for the code: "I think that we would be better off with an enforcement mechanism," she said, citing recent moves to solicit additional briefs and hold oral arguments in certain emergency matters such as a dispute over whether a president could remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board.
Lawmakers from both parties largely appeared sympathetic to the security request; Sen. Susan Collins criticized inflammatory rhetoric directed at the court, Rep. David Joyce said judicial officers "must be able to do their jobs without fear for their safety or their family's safety," and Rep. Steny Hoyer said Congress must provide sufficient funding to ensure the safety of judicial personnel.
Democrats on the House panel also pressed the justices on ethical practices, with Rep. Rosa DeLauro urging stricter limits on gifts and citing a bill reintroduced by Rep. Jamie Raskin that would ban gifts greater than $50 to justices, and DeLauro asked about enforcement of the court's 2023 code of conduct; Barrett hesitated to endorse an independent enforcement mechanism while Kagan said one would help public confidence.
Congress approved a separate $30 million increase for the court's security budget in January that is expected to last through Sept. 2028, and the U.S. Marshals Service began providing 24/7 security at the justices' private residences in May 2022; House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said at the time, "We just want to make sure nothing happens to any of our justices."
The court's recently released annual financial disclosures show sizable income from book deals for some justices: Barrett reported about $849,000 in earnings from published books, and she and Justice Brett Kavanaugh reported teaching income from Notre Dame Law School; the filings show Chief Justice John Roberts and Kagan were the only two sitting justices who had not written books, and they list the chief justice's annual pay at $320,700 and the associate justices' pay at $306,600.
House appropriators have advanced legislation that would fund the Supreme Court at $207 million — nearly $44 million more than current enacted funding levels — and senior appropriators said they hope to keep questioning tightly focused on the court's operations and expenses rather than on cases pending before the justices.