Police probe suspicious package outside Supreme Court as justices overturn affirmative action

A suspicious package was found Thursday outside the Supreme Court, the same day the high court struck down affirmative action policies at two of the nation’s oldest educational institutions.

“We are assisting the Supreme Court Police with a suspicious package. Out of an abundance of caution, we are also helping keep the area clear. We cannot provide further information about another agency’s case, but we will keep the community updated about our involvement,” the Capitol Police posted Thursday afternoon on Twitter.

The statement comes after the high court delivered an ideologically divided ruling earlier Thursday in a 6-3 decision doing away with schools using race as an admissions factor at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

It was one of the term’s most watched cases.

A spokesperson from the court did not immediately comment on the package.

Around 3 p.m., the Capitol Police pronounced the “all clear.”

The Capitol Police also stated in the initial Twitter thread that certain road were closed.

“Maryland Avenue between Constitution Avenue and First Street, NE” and “First Street between Constitution Avenue, NE, and Independence Avenue, SE” as well as “East Capitol Street between First and Second Streets,” they wrote,

The high court has faced security concerns since May 2022 when the leak of a draft opinion revealed that the justices were poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that gave women a national constitutional right to abortion.