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Justices to face Congress after contentious court rulings

Michael Macagnone and Aidan Quigley, CQ-Roll Call on

Published in Political News

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices are scheduled to appear before both Senate and House appropriators next week, marking the first time since 2019 that justices will face lawmakers.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan are slated to testify before the Senate and House Financial Services Appropriations subcommittees on July 14 to discuss the high court’s fiscal 2027 budget request.

The court is requesting $225.1 million, an approximately 10% increase over fiscal 2026 enacted funding. Of that total, $207 million would be for salaries and expenses and $18.1 million would be for care of the Supreme Court building and grounds.

The federal judiciary overall requested $9.7 billion in the coming fiscal year, a roughly $500 million increase from current funding. Much of those increases would go to cover increased staff and staff salaries across the federal appellate and district courts.

The House Financial Services spending bill would provide $10 billion for the judiciary, including $207 million for the Supreme Court, according to a GOP summary. Senate appropriators have yet to release their version of the bill.

While next week’s hearings are designed to be focused on the budget, the justices will likely face questions about the cases before them in recent years, as well as on the court as an institution.

The hearings will come two weeks after the justices closed out their term for the year, issuing decisions that rebuffed President Donald Trump’s worldwide tariff regime and his attempt to redefine citizenship through executive order, along with decisions that supercharged the ongoing redistricting wars and gave presidents more power to fire federal officials.

Democrats sought to have several justices testify during the Biden administration amid concerns over alleged ethical lapses by several members of the high court. That included a request from Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., to have Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. meet with senators about the court’s ethics.

 

Roberts rebuffed Durbin’s request.

The court has also faced scrutiny from Republicans about its failure to identify the person who leaked a draft of the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision that overturned a constitutional right to an abortion. An internal probe published by the court found lax security measures and gaps in information technology.

Following the leak of that decision, protesters appeared outside the justices’ homes, and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh faced an abandoned assassination attempt. The justices have received round-the-clock protection since then from U.S. Marshals and Supreme Court police — also leading to multiple requests for increased security funding.

Justices had been expected to appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee in May, but that hearing was rescheduled.

The House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee had also contemplated a hearing with the justices in May, but Chairman David Joyce, R-Ohio, said at the time that it would not work with the busy schedule of the chamber and that of the justices.

In 2019, Kagan and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. appeared before the House Financial Services Subcommittee, the most recent time justices appeared before House members. The last time justices appeared at a Senate hearing was 2011, when Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Antonin Scalia testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding their views about the constitutional role of federal judges, according to the Congressional Research Service.

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©2026 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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