Harassing Supreme Court Justice Barrett at Home

Local police received a call on May 27, claiming they heard gunshots at Judge Barrett’s residence. The call was a fake emergency designed to have police swarm into the home of the judge and his family.

An alleged assault like this is dangerous, with armed police dispatched to a home where an owner may believe she is facing a break-in. Local law enforcement communicated with Supreme Court police and determined it was a scam before officers were dispatched. But the incident is the latest in a series of incidents aimed at intimidating or, worse, harassing the justices’ families.

Judge Barrett’s speech was made public thanks to the abortion rights group Ruth Sent Us, which released the conservative justice’s private speech in 2022 after a draft of the court’s opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked. Progressives have since protested outside the homes of Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts.

In 2022, a transgender woman infiltrated the home of Judge Brett Kavanaugh with the plan to kill him. Prosecutors sought a 30-year sentence, but federal Judge Deborah Boardman relied on the defense and sentenced the attacker to eight years.

Many U.S. prosecutors have faced threats against public figures. The National Center for Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education (NCITE) reported that there were 133 federal criminal cases involving threats against public officials in 2025, the highest level since counting began in 2013. Judges have learned to alert local police departments when they issue controversial opinions.

Chief Justice John Roberts said in his 2024 Judiciary Annual Report that threats against judges had tripled. in the past five years. U.S. Marshals said they investigated more than 1,000 serious threats against federal judges. President Trump stopped short of attacking the justices personally after the Supreme Court struck down his emergency tariffs in a 6-3 decision, saying they had “embarrassed their families.”

Progressives are currently attacking Judge Alito because his son works at the Treasury Department. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) posted on social media, “Samuel Alito’s son has been working as a lawyer within the Trump Treasury Department since early last year. The government hid this… the public was never informed.”

Never told? Why should the public care about where a judge’s children work, unless it has to do with the cases they may hear?

Levine and others said Justice Alito should recuse himself on issues involving the Treasury Department. But unless his son is directly involved in the litigation of this case, we believe that Judge Alito has a duty to hear the Treasury case so that litigants can ensure that the court decision they get is not a 4-4 decision.

Judge Barrett wrote in her book “Listen to the Law” that being the target of the protests “changed my daily life,” but in a “society committed to free speech, criticism of public officials comes with the territory.” That’s kind and true, but it doesn’t level the playing field for her family.

Federal judges give up lucrative law firm partnerships or tenure-track professorships and federal salary standards in academia. In a country that values ​​the rule of law, harassment and death threats are not part of the bargain.