Takeaways From Justices Kagan and Barrett’s Congressional Testimony on Supreme...

Two Supreme Court justices, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, made a rare appearance at the Capitol on Tuesday, ostensibly to answer lawmakers’ questions about the court’s request for millions of dollars to increase security amid rising threats against the justices and their families. But it was the first time any of the justices answered questions from lawmakers since 2019, and the discussion before a House Appropriations subcommittee quickly moved to other topics, including the court’s emergency docket and ethics rules. The justices meet with senators in the afternoon. Here are some highlights from the meeting with the House. The justices are still divided over ethics. A rift re-emerged between the justices on the question of whether the court should adopt some kind of mechanism to enforce ethics rules it first announced in 2023. At the time, the court was under intense pressure after reports that Justice Clarence Thomas had failed to disclose years of free luxury travel and gifts from a Texas billionaire. The justices ultimately, for the first time, embraced an ethics code specific to the nine justices, but without any process for policing whether a justice had violated the rules.