The Supreme Court did something Tuesday that it has not done in seven years.It sent two of the justices to Capitol Hill to testify about the court's budget request for the coming year.
The budget has grown dramatically in recent years because of the equally dramatic rise in the number and intensity of threats to the justices' safety.Designated as the court's representatives were Justice Elena Kagan, appointed by President Obama, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, appointed by President Trump.As Kagan pointed out in her testimony, it was Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Elijah Cummings who insisted that the court beef up its security ten years ago after Justice Antonin Scalia died in his sleep on a hunting trip, with no security anywhere nearby to respond quickly. "They said, kind of like, we think you're crazy, you know, that that you have less security than director of the Office of Personnel Management does," she recounted the Congressmen as telling the Court, "and we think that you have to do better."Before that, the justices basically had little to no security.They drove their own cars to work; went to the movies and shopped at supermarkets unaccompanied, and did their private travel on their own.
And frankly, they liked it that way, because having security is personally invasive.In recent years, however, the court has undertaken major changes, including continually expanding the court police force to protect the justices and their homes at all times, and funding additional cybersecurity measures.And yet, as Justice Kagan pointed out, the Court's $207 million budget request is less than one tenth of one percent of the entire federal budget.The justices spoke at length Tuesday about how rising threats impacted their lives.Justice Barrett came prepared with two harrowing stories.
First was the day she brought home a bullet-proof vest. "My 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom and he wanted to know what it was," she testified, "and I didn...