Senate Republicans Look to Hike Supreme Court Security Funding

Senate Republicans proposed bumping up funding for the US Supreme Court as threats against federal judges have increased.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s financial services panel suggested giving over $163 million to fund the Supreme Court in fiscal 2026, including $107 million for security. That’s an increase over last fiscal year’s amount and the House recommendation.

The proposal was included in draft spending legislation released Monday for the judiciary, Treasury Department, and other agencies for fiscal 2026, which started Oct. 1. The government is operating under a short-term funding extension that resolved a 43-day shutdown.

The proposed expense budget for the high court matches the judiciary’s request. It represents a roughly 26% increase over the funding it got last fiscal year and roughly 10% more than House lawmakers proposed earlier this year.

The House version, released in July, proposed allocating $148 million for Supreme Court expenses, including $18 million specifically for personal protection of the Supreme Court justices.

The additional security money put forth by the Senate would fund protection of the Supreme Court justices and staff, as well as security for the building and visitors, according to a report accompanying the proposed bill text. Appropriators also asked the judiciary to brief the House and Senate spending panels twice a year on how the security funding is being spent.

The Senate draft bill would also include $892 million for court security guards and other security expenses for the lower courts, which aligns with the judiciary’s request and the House’s proposal.

The move to raise the Supreme Court’s budget comes amid heightened concerns about violent threats against federal judges and other public officials. The US Marshals Service, the Justice Department agency that protects the judiciary, tracked 73 threats made against federal judges in the first six weeks of this fiscal year. Lawmakers included $28 million in extra money for security for the justices in the short-term funding bill passed this month.

Top judiciary officials have also sounded the alarm, writing lawmakers in April that they have “significant concerns” about the judiciary’s ability to keep courthouses safe with the resources they had.

The Senate proposal included $1.6 billion for the federal defenders, an increase over the $1.45 billion earmarked last fiscal year. It’s also slightly more than the $1.56 billion the defenders got in extra funding included in the stopgap funding bill that expires Jan. 30.

Still, federal defenders have said they need at least $1.77 billion this fiscal year to continue operating and avoid a budget shortfall next year.

After the government reopened earlier this month, the judiciary had to pay back more than $70 million to private lawyers and other providers handling indigent defense with the so-called Criminal Justice Act panel, who had fronted their own expenses for months after their funding ran dry.