Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Justice Barrett recalls having to explain what a bullet-proof vest is to her 12-year-old
Posted
July 14, 2026
Views
14,601
Likes
61
Engagement
0.42%
July 14, 2026
14,601
61
0.42%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
3:02Now PlayingSupreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett shared her experience of receiving threats against her life and being swatted during a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday.
Barrett said statistics about an increase in threats to Supreme Court justices “sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not.”
The threats “have required my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about.”
Barrett recalled walking into her house with a bulletproof vest given to her by her security detail following the leak of the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She said she put down the vest on a table and turned around to see her 12-year-old son standing in the doorway, curious about what the vest was and why she had it.
“I didn't know how to respond because maybe I lack imagination,” Barrett said. “But I didn't expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one.”
The justice also pointed to recent reports that she had been the target of a swatting incident, when people falsely report gunshots to provoke law enforcement officials to respond.
“I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home,” she said.
Members of the Supreme Court have not testified before Congress since 2019. Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan’s appearances in both House and Senate hearings Tuesday are focused on requesting more funding for security, as threats and incidents of harassment and intimidation aimed at the judiciary have risen.
The justices are making their rare appearance after the Supreme Court wrapped up its latest term late last month with major decisions on birthright citizenship, transgender rights, executive authority, campaign finance rules and mail-in voting – all topics that may come up in lawmakers’ questioning, in addition to the security funds request.
Newsletters
PBS News podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app
Find more from PBS News at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
