Justice Kagan Warns House Panel of Escalating Threats Against Supreme Court Justices

In prepared remarks to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Justice Elena Kagan detailed the dramatic escalation in security threats facing the Supreme Court since her appointment in 2010. She noted that while only the Chief Justice once received a dedicated security detail — with other justices protected solely during public appearances — every justice now benefits from round-the-clock protection.

Justice Kagan attributed the bulk of the Court’s budget growth, averaging 15 percent annually, to these enhanced security measures. The Supreme Court Police have recorded a 38 percent surge in threats this year, following a 25 percent increase the previous year.

“For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,” Kagan planned to tell the subcommittee. She emphasized, however, that the justices remain undeterred: “As the Chief Justice has said, all members of the Court continue to do their jobs as they believe legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.”

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