Amy Coney Barrett recalls heartbreaking question from 12-year-old son over bulletproof vest

Justice Amy Coney Barrett told the House Appropriations Committee the uptick in threats waged against her and fellow Supreme Court justices have taken a toll on her children.

"They have required my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about," Barrett testified Tuesday.

Barrett shared how her security detail gave her a bulletproof vest to wear, and one day when she brought it into her bedroom, her 12-year-old son asked what it was.

"And I didn't know how to respond because maybe I lack imagination, but 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 told the committee.

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Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan's testimony before Congress came as the Supreme Court seeks a 10% budget increase for fiscal year 2027, with roughly $16.6 million of the $20.7 million increase dedicated to expanding security for the justices.

Barrett, who was the target of a swatting incident in May, recounted how her and her family's lives drastically changed following the leaked Dobbs decision in 2022, which ruled that abortion was not a constitutional right, causing threats on her life to intensify.

In that incident, someone falsely reported gunshots at her home, Barrett testified, saying her teenage son and his friends were the first to discover the street filled with police.

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"I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm, and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home," Barrett said.

She also shared that her and other justices are receiving anonymous packages being sent in the name of Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, who was killed in 2020.

The gunman was an attorney posing as a delivery driver. Judge Salas was his target. Salas' husband was seriously injured as well.

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"I think the message on these deliveries being sent in his name is clear," Barrett said. "As Justice Kagan said, federal judges across the country, throughout the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, continue to do their jobs without fear or favor, but the threat level is really high."

The testimony underscored the urgency behind the Supreme Court's push for more security funding during its first appearance before Congress since 2019.

In total, the Supreme Court is requesting roughly $89 million to cover personal security costs, which Kagan said is necessary given that the justices have experienced a 35% increase in threats just in 2026, compared to a 25% increase in threats the year prior. Kagan noted how recent growth in the budget can be entirely attributed to security expenses.

"For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize," Kagan testified.

She recalled that when she arrived at the Supreme Court in 2010, justices did not receive around-the-clock personal protection. Instead, the court's police primarily guarded the building, and she only had security accompanying her during work-related public events.

But Kagan said the heightened focus on justices' security began after Justice Antonin Scalia's death in 2016. Scalia died while on a hunting trip in Texas, where he was hours away from security personnel after declining a private security detail for the trip.

Kagan recalled that Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., went to Chief Justice John Roberts to push them to step up security.

"This was how the chief described it to us — they said, kind of like, 'We think you're crazy, you know, that you have less security than the director of the Office of Personnel Management does. And we think that you have to do better.'

"Then, of course, the Dobbs leak happened, and that really increased the urgency of the entire thing," Kagan said. "But we've been working on this now for about a decade and actually, I think, are grateful to Congress for coming to us and saying, 'You have to up your game in this area.'"