GOP lawmakers demand Merrick Garland brief them on Supreme Court justices’ safety

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday told Attorney General Merrick Garland it needs a briefing on the safety measures aimed at keeping Supreme Court justices safe following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump this month.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, and Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, issued a letter requesting a staff-level briefing by Aug. 6 regarding the Justice Department’s efforts to safeguard the high court members.

“In light of the heightened rhetoric and the recent assassination attempt on President Trump, we remain concerned about the security and safety of all judicial branch officers — including and especially the safety of Supreme Court justices,” they wrote.

The lawmakers pointed to rhetoric from Democrats threatening to restructure the court if the justices don’t rule their way in certain cases and introducing articles of impeachment against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., two of the high court’s most conservative jurists. 

The House lawmakers also cited the 2022 leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that gave women a national right to abortion, as spawning security concerns. 

The Republicans said that the leak prompted a California man to travel to Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s home with plans to assassinate him. 

The leak also led to left-wing activists organizing protests outside the conservative justices’ homes and publicizing their addresses.

The letter noted that Sen. Katie Britt, Alabama Republican, revealed a Justice Department memo to the U.S. Marshals Service discouraging it from arresting protesters. 

“In light of the incendiary rhetoric directed toward Supreme Court justices, such a limitation on the authority of U.S. Marshals is dangerous and misguided,” the lawmakers wrote.

Democrats pushed back on allegations that their rhetoric endangered the court.

A spokesperson from the Senate Judiciary Committee said Senate Democrats have led efforts to boost protections for the judiciary.

“Democrats passed legislation into law that took important steps to protect Supreme Court justices and their families in 2022. Democrats built on that progress by passing into law extended protections for all federal judges and their immediate families, despite a Senate Republican blocking it for nearly a year,” the spokesperson said. “Representative Jordan’s and MAGA Republicans’ portrayal of popular Supreme Court ethics reform as ‘incendiary rhetoric’ is completely misguided and misleading.”

A spokesperson from the Justice Department said protecting the justices is a joint mission with the Supreme Court police.

Mr. Garland and Ronald L. Davis, director of the U.S. Marshals, appeared this year in front of lawmakers to discuss the issue of security for justices.

“With respect to the justices themselves, for the first time in history, an attorney general, namely myself, ordered that every justice get 24/7 protection for himself or herself and their families at their residence and on their travel. So, I’ve assigned over 70 U.S. marshals who are doing this daily, but because of rotations, it’s involved almost 1,700 marshals across the country to provide immediate protection. Now … both the marshals and the FBI investigate threats against the justices. This is in our highest priority band … the protection against the judges — protection against threats against justices and judges, and I’ll be happy to provide you with the press releases of our charges. … There have been threats against several of the justices, and we have brought cases against those who have threatened them,” Mr. Garland said in June.

In February, Mr. Davis said his agency works with others to protect the justices.

“We … believe strongly that the protecting of our judiciary is the protection of our democracy, that this independent judiciary must be able to operate without those threats of direct violence,” he said.