US Courts Up Budget Requests for Security, Public Defenders (1)

The federal judiciary is requesting a nearly 10% increase in its budget for the next fiscal year, with two of its largest proposed increases going toward court security and federal public defenders.

The federal courts are seeking a nearly 19% increase from last fiscal year in money for court security measures, for a total of $892 million.

“These funds are necessary to address the substantial increase in threats against federal judges,” the budget request reads. It also says the money will “mitigate the significant underfunding” of the court security account, after it was held at a hard freeze for the past two fiscal years.

The request comes a week after top judiciary officials wrote congressional appropriators warning they were headed for a budget shortfall and didn’t have enough money to properly secure courthouses.

Threats to federal judges have increased in recent years, according to data from the US Marshals Service. Those risks have heightened in the last few months, as Donald Trump and his allies have publicly blasted judges by name who have ruled against the administration’s actions.

House Republicans have also moved to impeach judges who ruled against the president’s agenda, prompting rebukes from judges including Chief Justice John Roberts. They’ve also floated the possibility of targeting the judiciary’s appropriations to rein in judges issuing rulings that block Trump policies nationwide.

In response to a ruling blocking the administration’s attempt to withhold funding from schools with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, White House advisor Stephen Miller, wrote on the social media platform X on Friday, “No more funding for radical rogue judges.”

Within the court security request, the judiciary is seeking an increase of $3.9 million for its Threat Management Branch, which helps remove from the internet personal information like the home addresses of judges and their relatives. If fully funded, that branch’s budget would total $12.9 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

Court security funding increases would also go toward courthouse hardening efforts and maintaining and adding security systems, the request says.

The request also seeks a more than 21% increase in funding for its federal defenders, who represent criminal defendants who can’t afford attorneys.

Those funds will go toward maintaining current defender services, as well as enough new employees to fill nearly all required staffing increases.

It would also aim to cover the costs of paying private attorneys to represent indigent defendants, as well as payments deferred from fiscal 2025, according to the request.

The US Supreme Court would receive a 26.1 percent funding increase under the judiciary’s request. This would be used in part to expand the Supreme Court Police so it can provide round-the-clock protection for the justices at their residences, a mission currently handled by the Marshals Service, part of the Justice Department.

The court system asked for an increase of $345.1 million, or 5.7%, for employee salaries and other expenses.

The budget request for fiscal 2026, which begins Oct. 1, represents a wishlist from the judiciary to Congress, which decides final funding for the court system and federal agencies.