Late last month, Justice Clarence Thomas changed a planned in-person appearance at a legal conference at American University to a remote one following a security threat. Although details of the threat were not made public, student groups had taken to social media before the event to question Thomas’ appearance, and a group of individuals protested outside the venue with “No Kings” placards and one-page excerpts of Anita Hill’s testimony from Thomas’ confirmation hearing.
“I apologize for having to change things, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t endanger anyone by my mere presence,” Thomas said to conference attendees from the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Mike Lee. “At the same time, I encourage you not to follow the example of the things that have happened that prevent us from being together.”
Thomas’ comments put a spotlight on security concerns surrounding the justices, concerns that have been in the news regularly since a leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization sparked nationwide protests in May 2022. The draft showed the court overturning Roe v. Wade, which it ultimately did in June 2022.
As Kelsey noted in her recent piece on investigations into the Dobbs leak, the leak led to protests outside multiple justices’ homes, including the Alexandria, Virginia, home of Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the Dobbs draft opinion (and final opinion). There was also an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (The individual arrested near Kavanaugh’s home was sentenced in October to over eight years in prison following a guilty plea.) Amid this unrest, additional security was deployed to protect the justices, and barricades were erected around the court.
On May 11, 2022, nine days after the unauthorized leak, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland “announced he had ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to assist in providing round-the-clock security to justices,” as Politico reported at the time. Garland and other Justice Department officials met with Supreme Court officials roughly a week later to “discuss the security needs of Justices and the Court since the unauthorized release of a draft Court opinion” and “discussed ongoing efforts to enhance coordination, intelligence sharing, and technical support as it relates to judicial security,” according to a Justice Department press release.
In June 2022, Congress passed the Supreme Court Parity Act to address rising security concerns. Per the ABA, the law “extends Supreme Court police protection to ‘any member of the immediate family of the Chief Justice, any Associate Justice, or any officer of the Supreme Court if the Marshal determines such protection is necessary,’ thereby providing protection similar to that already afforded high ranking officials in the executive and legislative branches.” Prior to passage of the 2022 law, the justices themselves (but not their families) had federal security protection under the U.S. Code.
But expanded security for the justices and their families means higher security costs, which explains why Supreme Court security funding has played a role in Congress’ ongoing budget debates. In addition to considering requests to provide additional funding to the Supreme Court Police Department, Congress considered a request for more security funding from other members of the judiciary.
Even before Thomas’ recent comments on safety, these funding debates felt urgent. Per federal data from the U.S. Marshals Service, threats to judges increased by 40% between 2022 and 2025.