Supreme Court justice describes wearing bulletproof vest and 'swatting' hoax at home

Two US Supreme Court justices have been lobbying Congress for millions
in extra security funding for themselves and their colleagues to help
protect them from a rise in threats to their safety. 

The court's request of $228m (£170.3m) is a 53% increase from last year
- most of which is being sought for strengthened security. 

"The threat level is really high," Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a
conservative, said on Tuesday during a rare public appearance by members
of the court before the House committee. 

She and fellow Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal, spoke of rising
AI-fuelled cyber-attacks, the threat of drones, and heightened concerns
about the effects of an increasingly polarised America. 

In her opening remarks, Barrett described the difficulty of living under
the constant threat of attack and the burden it had placed on her and
her family. 

"Six weeks ago, I was the victim of a swatting incident," she said,
referring to when a person places hoax calls to emergency services to
provoke a significant response from the police. 

Barrett described the chaos of police cars surrounding her home after a
false report was made of gunshots at her residence. 

She also recounted how her security team had sent her home with a bullet
proof vest around the time she ruled with the majority to overturn
abortion laws in 2022. 

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

Kagan, meanwhile, testified that the Supreme Court police expected a 38%
threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that
they may again materialise." 

She said cybersecurity attacks "have been up by magnitudes", adding that
"the rapid advancement of AI is making that more and more possible". 

As of July 1, 370 threats have been made to federal judges this fiscal
year, according to a US Marshal Service report that was cited during the
hearing. 

Ranking member Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, said this represented a 31%
rise since last year, which was "deeply alarming". 

The justices said their hope is that the number of people assigned to
protect them around the clock will increase over time. 

At the moment, they are typically given between four to eight security
personnel depending on the occasion, Barrett said, adding that she hoped
a rise in their security level would bring them "closer to cabinet level
officials". 

"The threats are constant and they're always there," she said.

Among them is the case of a woman who was sentenced to eight years in
prison in October after police discovered a bag full of guns in her car.
She confessed intent to harm both herself and Chief Justice John
Roberts. 

Barrett and Kagan's appearance before the House Appropriations Committee
is the first by a sitting justice since 2019. Throughout Tuesday's
hearing, multiple members of the committee expressed the need for
justices to appear before Congress more often, as public trust in
America's highest court has eroded over the years. 

It comes just weeks after the Supreme Court's last term concluded at the
end of June, a period in which the justices ruled on a number of
high-profile cases, issuing opinions on everything from tariffs to
voting rights and birthright citizenship. 

These rulings were both celebrated and agonised, with some detractors
lashing out at justices and other members of the federal judiciary. 

The latest review by the Pew Research Center found 50% of Americans hold
a favourable view of the Supreme Court - down from 70% in 2022. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkvkjddjd7o