Supreme Court seeks $228.4m budget as threat costs surge
The Supreme Court is requesting a nearly 10% budget increase to $228.4 million for 2027, reflecting sharply rising security costs that highlight the financial toll of escalating threats against federal judges.
Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan appeared before a House appropriations panel on Tuesday to request $228.4 million in funding for fiscal 2027. The budget ask represents a nearly 10% increase over the $207.8 million appropriated for 2026. The justices explicitly tied this sharp rise in spending to the escalating costs of protecting federal judges from physical harm.
Barrett told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that "the threat level" against her and other federal judges "is really high." The financial burden of these dangers is reflected in the court's budget proposal, which allocates significant new capital toward security infrastructure and protective details.
Data from the U.S. Marshals Service details the scope of the problem. The agency has opened 512 investigations into threats against federal judges since the beginning of 2026. At that pace, threats are projected to significantly surpass the 807 total investigations recorded throughout all of 2025, necessitating the requested funding boost.
"Those statistics sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not," Barrett testified. She cited specific security measures triggered by threats, including receiving a bulletproof vest from her security team following a news leak about an opinion reversing abortion rights. Barrett also revealed she was recently the target of a swatting attack, where a false police report of a shooting and raised voices at her home sent armed responders to her door.
For investors and executives monitoring federal expenditure, the Supreme Court's budget request highlights how political polarization is directly inflating the operational costs of U.S. government institutions. The judiciary's budget is typically a stable line item, making a double-digit percentage increase driven solely by security needs a notable departure from historical norms.
Tuesday's hearing marked the first time Supreme Court justices have testified before Congress since 2019, when Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito testified before the same House panel. Barrett and Kagan are scheduled to repeat their fiscal 2027 budget request before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on Tuesday afternoon.
