A bulletproof vest, a swatting, and the price of judicial independence

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett made a rare joint appearance before House and Senate committees on Tuesday. The main objective was to articulate the need for increased security funding for the justices following a series of death threats and assassination attempts targeting the court following the May 2022 leak of a draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the decision that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade. Justice Barrett described threatening anonymous packages that were sent to her home, and a recent swatting incident where she, her husband, and seven children live. “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 said, describing a scene where her 12-year-old son raised questions about her vest. The court is requesting an additional $14.6 million to cover six additional agents per justice. Corporate media figures routinely make unhinged and slanderous comments targeting the Supreme Court. Whenever the Court disagrees with the Left’s radical sensibilities, it is “extreme” or “MAGA.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) threatened the court in 2020, telling Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch specifically that they would “pay the price” and “won’t know what hit you” if they were to overturn Roe v. Wade. Schumer faced a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous.” Roberts concluded: “All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.” Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett, right, and Elena Kagan, testify during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard) In June 2022, following the Dobbs draft leak, a transgender leftist named Nicholas Roske attempted to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh. The irony is that the Roberts Court is not radical in the slightest. In fact, we have an absentee legislature that is elated to cede power to the executive and an executive branch that has attempted to unilaterally set policy for decades. The judiciary, specifically the Supreme Court, is the last part of the federal government that is still operating largely how the founders intended. The Court is overturning bad law, protecting the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments, and routinely slapping presidents from both parties when they run afoul of the law. THE 14TH AMENDMENT’S AUTHOR WOULDN’T ACCEPT THE SUPREME COURT’S INTERPRETATIONSCOTUS ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources v. Trump (2026) that Trump’s sweeping tariff regime was illegal in a major blow to the president’s main economic priority. The court ruled that Trump could not unilaterally remove a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and rejected the president’s claim of absolute presidential immunity, allowing a New York grand jury to subpoena his tax records. The court struck down Biden’s illegal student loan forgiveness scheme (Biden v. Nebraska, 2023). The Supreme Court blocked Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and ended the CDC’s nationwide eviction moratorium. Dobbs and Bruen were both long-awaited victories for conservatives, then Trump v. Barbara crushed the Right’s dream of ending birthright citizenship. The Court has been a thorn in the side of both the Left and Right, and the fact that justices are facing these threats highlights how depraved and violent the far left has become. Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a writer, musician, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.