extra protections
House passes bill expanding security for SCOTUS families
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would provide the family of Supreme Court justices with expanded security protections, sending the legislation to President Biden's desk.
The final vote came in at 396 to 27, with only Democrats objecting. Per The Washington Post, many of those objections were over the legislation's lack of protections for lower-court judges and their families. The House had also initially explored and passed a broader bill that offered protections to Supreme Court staff like judicial clerks if the court marshal believed it necessary, The Hill notes.
House passage comes over a month after the Senate unanimously approved the bill, a vote that arrived in the wake of a leaked draft opinion revealing the high court poised to overturn federal abortion rights under Roe v. Wade.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the lower chamber voted on the Senate bill because it's "the only thing that can pass, frankly, and we want to get it done." In the interim, Republicans had accused Democrats of holding up the security bill, while Democrats said they were holding out for broader protections.
Final approval of the legislation comes not long after an armed man was arrested outside of Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home and later charged with attempted murder.