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Takeaways From Justices Kagan and Barrett’s Congressional Testimony on Supreme Court Security
The New York Times • • nation
Key Points:
- Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett appeared before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees to discuss the court’s request for increased security funding amid rising threats.
- This was the first time since 2019 that justices answered lawmakers’ questions, with discussions expanding beyond security to cover the court’s emergency docket, ethics rules, and hostile rhetoric against justices.
- A division remains among justices regarding enforcement of the court’s ethics code, which was adopted in 2023 but lacks any mechanism for policing violations.
- Representative Rosa DeLauro criticized the current ethics rules as insufficient and called for greater transparency through enhanced financial disclosure requirements.
- Justice Kagan supports enforcement of ethics rules via a committee of federal judges, while Justice Barrett expressed commitment to the rules but raised concerns about creating an enforcement system.
