Supreme Court Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan are set to testify before Congress for the first time in seven years.
The justices will testify before the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee on July 14 about the high court’s budget request, marking the first time justices have testified before Congress since 2019, according to the House committee repository. The FY2027 FSGG funding bill would provide $207 million for the Supreme Court, almost $44 million more than it received in the current fiscal year.
Justices have not testified before Congress on budget requests since 2011, according to SCOTUSblog.
NEWS: Supreme Court Justices will testify before the House Appropriations Committee on July 14.
Justices last appeared before House members in 2019. pic.twitter.com/r2HutGPy8B
Samantha Handler (@sn_handler) July 7, 2026
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro called on justices to testify about where the funds would go, according to Punchbowl News. The court requested an additional $14.6 millions for security. The committee chair, Republican Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, said members must ask about the budget and refrain from bringing up particular cases.
“It would be good for the American public, and I think it’d be good for the two parties, but not if one side or the other turned into some sort of circus,” Cole said.
Justices faced threats on their lives in recent years, most notably the assassination attempt against Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022. Mass protests took place in front of the six conservative justices’ private homes after the leak of Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
(DCNF)