WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett opened up Tuesday about the chilling moment she had to explain to her son why she had to wear a bulletproof vest following the leak of the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Barrett, a mother of seven, told lawmakers on a House Appropriations subcommittee that her security detail told her to wear extra protection on her commute home after a draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was published by Politico in May 2022.
“I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, and he wanted to know what it was and why I had it,” Barrett recounted.
“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.”
The Dobbs decision, which was formally issued by the court on June 24, 2022, overturned the nationwide right to an abortion established by the high court with the Roe decision in 1973.
Weeks earlier, a would-be assassin was napped near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home with a backpack full of zip ties, a knife, and a Glock-17, among other weapons.
Barrett and her colleague, Elena Kagan, testified in support of an enhanced budget for the Supreme Court in the first appearances by sitting Supreme Court justices before Congress since 2019.
The court is asking for $228.4 million from Congress for fiscal year 2027, which begins Oct.1, including an extra $14.6 million for beefed-up security measures.
“[The threats] have required me, my children, to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about,” explained Barrett, who was the target of a “swatting” incident at her suburban home in late May.
“One of my teenage sons opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street that it was full of police cars, who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home,” she recalled, noting that her security detail informed police it was a false report.
“Many of us, me included, have received threatening anonymous deliveries designed to intimidate and harass us,” added Barrett, who was confirmed the Supreme Court in the fall of 2020 following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Kagan, who joined the court in 2010, noted to lawmakers that the number of threats against the court has increased by 38% this year, following a 25% jump in threats the previous term.
“For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,” said Kagan, who insisted that “all members of the court continue to do their jobs as they believe legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.”
