‘There’s Not a Money Fairy Up Here!’ John Kennedy Dumps Cold Water on SCOTUS Security Request

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said he is not racing to spend more tax dollars on protecting U.S. Supreme Court justices during a Tuesday interview with Griff Jenkins on Fox News.

The conservative lawmaker went on the channel soon after Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan made a rare appearance before Congress, where they requested a $228 million increase in the court’s budget. That hike would be about a 10% increase and would include $15 million for beefing up security, including adding six agents for each justice; a few million bucks more would go towards residential security.

Kennedy said he wasn’t sold on the budget boost.

“Well, I’m sorry they feel insecure. They’re not the only ones. And if I sound unsympathetic I don’t mean to, Griff. But look, I listened to part of their testimony — they want a 10% budget increase for security,” Kennedy said. “They’re like everybody else up here, their favorite kind of spending is ‘more.'”

He continued, “There’s not a money fairy up here. This money that we appropriate comes out of people’s pockets or we have to borrow it.”

Earlier in the day, Barrett made an emotional plea for more security funds. She said it was essential because of death threats made against her and other justices, before sharing the following anecdote:

One example is when threats to my life were particularly intense a few years ago around the time of the Dobbs leak.

My security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest, and I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom.

And he wanted to know what it was and why I had it. And I didn’t know how to respond, because maybe I lack imagination, but I didn’t expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bullet proof vest was and why had to wear one.

Kennedy told Fox News he was on the Senate Appropriations Committee and would “take a look” at their request. But he said asking for more dough didn’t make much sense to him because the Supreme Court already had a lot of security.

“They already have 24 hour security and they travel with anywhere from four to eight cops at all times,” Kennedy said. “So they’ve got better security than anybody else, except probably for the president.”

Watch above.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report. 

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