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Capitol Hill saw an unusual moment on Tuesday as Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan testified before lawmakers.
The main reason for their appearance was to make the case for the court’s budget request for the coming year, which includes an increase of roughly $14 million focused on security measures.
The hearings also encompassed other issues, including pressure from lawmakers to create a way to enforce an ethics code for justices.
Barrett, a conservative justice nominated by President Trump, and Kagan, a liberal nominated by former President Obama, might be seen as an odd pairing, but their personal chemistry was notably warm. They often deferred to each other and agreed with one another’s points.
Here were the biggest takeaways.
Barrett provides vivid account of threats
Both justices evinced concern about rising threats of violence, not only on the high court but toward members of the judiciary in general.
Lawmakers largely agreed, with Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) noting there had been 370 threats made to federal judges as of July 1, which she said meant, “We’re looking at a 31 percent year over year increase in threats against federal judges.”
Kagan, who has served on the court since 2010, told the Senate panel that during her tenure she had seen the need for security ramp up enormously.
“It was an entirely different world then,” she said, recalling driving herself to and from work, and walking “out on the street.”
It was Barrett, however, who provided the more pointed account of how threats have impacted her life.
She said she was issued a bulletproof vest because of threats to her life “a few years ago.”
She recalled taking the vest home and putting it down in her bedroom only to look around and see her then-12-year-old son standing in the doorway.
“He wanted to know what it was and why I had it,” Barrett told the House panel. “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.”
Barrett also referred to a more recent incident, earlier this year, of so-called “swatting”— when someone maliciously calls in a fake emergency at someone else’s address as a form of harassment.
Barrett said one of her teenage sons opened the front door to go out, only to find the street “full of police cars who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home.”
Kagan takes implicit aim at Trump’s attacks
The topic of heated rhetoric came up throughout the hearings.
Perhaps the most telling moment came after Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) read several comments that President Trump had made about the Supreme Court.
Reed cited Trump’s comment, made earlier this year after an adverse ruling on tariffs, that justices who had ruled against him were a “disgrace to our nation.” He also quoted a Trump social media post that said the Court had “unnecessarily RANSACKED” the country.
Kagan interjected immediately.
She prefaced her response by saying that such comments would be wrong “whatever political figure says them, whatever party that political figure is a member of.”
But she then seemed to take a direct, if implicit, jab at Trump when she added that criticism is “fair game” but “intimidation is a different thing entirely.”
“When political figures of any stripe are trying to intimidate judges and justices to do things that they like rather than the things that they don’t, that’s where we really have crossed a line,” Kagan said.
Justices otherwise avoid rising to political bait
Kagan’s remarks on the intimidation of judges were an isolated example of the justices dipping their toes into the political fray.
Throughout the day, lawmakers prefaced questions with partisan-leaning statements, but neither Kagan nor Barrett took the bait.
The tactic was tried by members of both parties. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) complained about “lawfare” against Trump and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) talked about needing a strong judiciary to protect Americans from the current administration’s “theory of … executive supremacy.”
The justices let those comments go without engaging with them.
Lawmakers press on ethics and shadow docket, with little success
Two issues that came up repeatedly were the lack of any enforcement mechanism for the high court’s ethical guidelines, and the increased use of the so-called shadow docket, via which the justices render expedited decisions, often with little or no explanation.
Some lawmakers pressed forcefully, especially on the first point.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he would like to see the Supreme Court act under its own steam on the enforceability of ethics. “I believe at some point there’ll be the votes to do that if the Supreme Court doesn’t do it itself,” he added.
Neither Barrett nor Kagan showed much appetite for making any commitments. Among their concerns, they implied that they feared any enforcement body could become a partisan political instrument.
As for the shadow docket, Kagan argued that the court had gotten better recently in giving at least some rudimentary information. But she also told Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), “I think we can still improve what we’re doing.”
Kagan pays tribute to Lindsey Graham
Kagan began the day before the House subcommittee by expressing “the entire Court’s condolences” to the family of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died suddenly on Saturday, at age 71.
Kagan added she wanted to make “a few more personal comments,” going on to recall that the conservative Graham had voted to confirm her to the court, knowing her liberal credentials.
She also paid tribute to Graham’s breadth of knowledge and his sense of humor. She noted that his wit was well-known but added wryly, of her own confirmation hearing, “somehow Sen. Graham made me look funny, which is a harder thing entirely.”
Graham, she said, was “a vivid person.”
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Amy Coney Barrett Chris Van Hollen Donald Trump Elena Kagan Jack Reed Michael Cloud Obama Rosa DeLauro Steny HoyerCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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