Washington (United States) (AFP) - US Supreme Court justices told Congress on Tuesday that escalating threats have forced them to confront dangers once unthinkable for the nation’s top judges – including explaining bulletproof vests to their children.

But in rare public testimony, they also delivered a defiant message: the court would continue deciding cases “without fear or favor” despite rising intimidation and a charged political climate.

The appearance came as the judiciary sought millions of dollars in new security funding after a bruising term that deepened tensions with President Donald Trump.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan testified before House and Senate panels that control federal spending, the first such appearance by sitting members of the nation’s top court since 2019.

“For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,” Kagan, a liberal justice, told lawmakers in the House hearing.

“But as the chief justice has said, all members of the court can do their jobs as they believe legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.”

Barrett, who was sent home with a bulletproof vest around the time of the 2022 leak of the draft ruling overturning the nationwide right to abortion, described finding her 12-year-old son standing in her bedroom doorway after she put the item down.

“I didn’t expect that performing the 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,” she said.

The testimony came after a divisive term in which the court delivered major rulings on Trump’s agenda, including decisions blocking his effort to end birthright citizenship and striking down sweeping global tariffs.

- ‘Dangerous and disturbing’ -

Trump has praised the conservative-dominated court when it has sided with him, including on presidential immunity, but has sharply criticized judges and justices who have ruled against him.

Barrett, whom Trump nominated in 2020, has drawn particular anger from some conservatives after joining decisions against the president despite remaining a reliable vote for many conservative legal outcomes.

The judiciary is seeking nearly $921 million for security, including more funding for protection at federal courthouses, while the Supreme Court itself wants $228.4 million – a $20.5 million on-year increase.

That includes $14.6 million extra for the high court’s specialized police department and building security, as well as $6.5 million for a new visitor screening facility on the Supreme Court grounds.

Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said US Marshals tracked 564 threats against federal judges last year, a “deeply alarming” 31 percent increase from the previous year.

Barrett has firsthand experience of the dangers. Her home was reportedly targeted in May in a “swatting” incident, in which a false emergency report is used to trigger an armed police response.

The most serious recent attack plot against a justice came in 2022, when an armed California resident traveled to the neighborhood of Justice Brett Kavanaugh intending to kill him. The would-be assailant was later sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

In the Senate panel’s hearing, Republican Susan Collins slammed “dangerous and disturbing” rhetoric targeting the justices from both sides of the political divide.

Democrat Jack Reed pointed to some of the more incendiary criticism from Trump, who as recently as February called justices a “disgrace to our nation,” “fools,” lapdogs,” and “very unpatriotic and disloyal to the constitution.”

Kagan said such remarks were unhelpful and dangerous, “whatever political figure says them.”