US justices make rare Capitol Hill appearance to warn of threats against them

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - In a rare appearance before Congress, U.S. Supreme Court justices sought more security funding on Tuesday and warned of a sharp rise in threats against them, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recounting being sent home with a bulletproof vest and targeted in a recent "swatting" hoax.

Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan urged lawmakers to approve a roughly 10% budget increase for the court, with Kagan saying the Supreme Court police force expects a 38% increase in threats this year following a 25% rise last year.

"For some of us, those threats have come very close," Kagan told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee. Their appearance was the first before Congress by sitting justices since 2019, excluding Senate confirmation hearings for nominees.

According to data from the U.S. Marshals Service, nearly 400 judges faced threats last year and 276 have been targeted this year as of July 1.

Barrett, one of Trump's three conservative appointees, and Kagan, one of three liberal justices, defended the court's nearly $230 million request for the next fiscal year, a roughly 10% increase from this year.

Kagan reiterated on Tuesday her support for creating a judicial panel to enforce the justices' compliance with the court's ethics code, saying such a mechanism would help ensure public confidence in the court.

Barrett said she was "less certain" about the need to create a means to enforce the ethics code, citing various complexities such as who would select the members of the enforcement panel.