Security increased for Supreme Court justices

By Samantha Ward 11/06/2026 3 min read 5 views

Last month, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the target of an attempted “swatting” incident — a fake call reporting gunshots at her Virginia home. Police audio showed Fairfax County officers quickly determined the address had “24-hour security coverage” and confirmed it was a hoax with her security detail. Swatting can be dangerous, but in this case the existing protection worked.

A sharp contrast with the past

The tight security around Barrett and her colleagues is a far cry from past decades. After Justice David Souter died last year, it emerged that he had no cellphone or answering machine at his New Hampshire home in 2005 — and presumably no security detail — when he missed the ceremony for Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s casket because no one could reach him. That kind of isolation seems unthinkable today.

Security around the high court and the justices has ratcheted up sharply since the 2022 leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. The disclosure sparked protests at the building and at conservative justices’ homes, and an attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s life at his Maryland home. Since then, the protection apparatus has expanded dramatically.

How the security build-up shows up in the budget

The institution’s budget for fiscal year 2027 includes more than $207 million in discretionary salary and expenses — money not for the justices’ own pay, but for staff. This funding supports 821 full-time employees, up from 488 in fiscal year 2016. That’s an increase of over $131 million and 333 positions in a decade.

Exactly how many of those employees are high court police officers is unclear. The police department’s website says it has allocated staffing for 233 officers, up from about 125 in 2018. Budget documents show a slow uptick after the Dobbs disclosure, then a dramatic jump as responsibility for protecting the jurists shifted from the U.S. Marshals Service to the court’s own force.

Even before that incident, the court was paying more attention to protection. In FY2019, it added $2.2 million for 27 new security positions. Justice Elena Kagan testified in 2019 that Chief Justice John Roberts had hired security consultants and planned a full review. In FY2020, the high court added another $2.9 million and two more employees for safety programs.

After the leak in FY2022, it received a supplemental $9.1 million for security costs. The Marshals Service got an extra $10.3 million to cover round-the-clock protection for the justices. Budget increases have continued every year since.

Despite deep divisions over its decisions, funding for justice security appears bipartisan. In 2022, Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican, co-authored legislation providing additional funds. They wrote that there “should be no question whether Congress will … provide the resources necessary to protect the Supreme Court.”

Threats aren’t going away.

The institution thus seems likely to continue to receive whatever funds for protection it requests, which means an even larger workforce and budget. The Supreme Court Police Department is focused on hiring officers to fill already-funded positions — at home, at the building, and during travel. To attract candidates, the high court is offering “recruitment incentives” of up to $60,000 for some roles. That suggests filling those slots isn’t easy.