Justices Barrett and Kagan head to Capitol Hill for budget hearing

Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan are set to make a rare Capitol Hill appearance Tuesday to testify on the high court’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.

Their appearance before the House Appropriations subcommittee comes just weeks after the Supreme Court concluded a highly consequential term, delivering major wins for President Donald Trump, including expanding his executive authority, while also ruling against key parts of his agenda, such as his executive order restricting birthright citizenship and his Liberation Day tariffs.

Barrett, a member of the court’s conservative supermajority, joined Kagan and the court’s liberal justices in voting against Trump’s citizenship executive order.

The pair is slated to appear before the House committee at 10 a.m. Tuesday, which will be followed by them testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee later in the afternoon.

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Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)

Supreme Court justices last testified before Congress in 2019, when Kagan, a member of the court’s liberal wing, and Justice Samuel Alito, part of its conservative majority, appeared to discuss the court’s fiscal year 2020 budget request.

In next year’s budget, the Supreme Court is requesting a $20.5 million increase, with $14.6 million earmarked to strengthen security protections for justices and an additional $2 million to cover security costs at the justices’ homes. The funding increase would cover the cost of staffing an additional 25 full-time Supreme Court Police officers.

In total, the Supreme Court is requesting a budget of $228 million for the 2027 fiscal year.

The request for additional security funding comes after Congress approved a $30 million increase for the Supreme Court’s security budget in January, which is expected to last through September 2028.

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 13: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan participates in a discussion at the George Washington University Law School, September 13, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

At the time of the additional funding approval, the U.S. Marshals Service, which is tasked with protecting the Supreme Court, had tracked 166 threats against federal judges since Oct. 1. The year before, more than 560 threats were made against judges.

“We just want to make sure nothing happens to any of our justices,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., said at the time.

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The U.S. Marshals Service began providing 24/7 security at the justices’ private residences in May 2022 after the leak of the draft Dobbs opinion, which foreshadowed the Supreme Court’s decision ending the constitutional right to abortion. The protection remained in place after the attempted assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh outside his Maryland home the following month.

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And in May, Barrett was the target of an apparent swatting incident after a false report of gunshots at her Virginia home prompted a police response. Authorities quickly determined the call was a hoax after coordinating with the Supreme Court Police officers assigned to protect the residence.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the House Chamber before President Donald J. Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston / Pool via Imagn Images)

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Last year, authorities also investigated a bomb threat targeting Barrett’s sister at her South Carolina home. The reported pipe bomb in her mailbox was also determined to be a hoax.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., waits for the arrival of President Joe Biden and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks Women’s basketball team in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

While justices have long been subjected to death threats, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his 2024 year-end report that threats against federal judges have more than tripled over the past decade. The U.S. Marshals Service investigated more than 1,000 serious threats during the previous five years.

The hearings on Capitol Hill come just days after Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death Saturday. The two-decade Senate veteran’s committee assignments made him a key figure in Supreme Court confirmation battles, including Elena Kagan’s 2010 hearing, when his lighthearted question about where she had been on Christmas Day produced a viral exchange with the future justice.