Deleted:Supreme Court Police

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Template:Infobox Law enforcement agency --> The Supreme Court of the United States Police is a small U.S. federal law enforcement agency headquartered in the District of Columbia, whose mission is to ensure the integrity of the constitutional mission of the U.S. Supreme Court by protecting the Supreme Court building, the Justices, employees, guests, and visitors.[1] In accordance with Template:USC, the Supreme Court Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Marshal of the United States Supreme Court who is appointed by the Supreme Court. The Marshal and the Supreme Court Police are authorized by Template:USC to police the Supreme Court Building and protect the Justices, employees of the Court, and visitors to the Court.

Established in 1935, the Supreme Court security force was tasked to provide protection for the new Supreme Court building.[2] The Court had previously resided in the United States Capitol, and the original force of 33 officers were selected from the ranks of the United States Capitol Police. In October 2018, when the Police were responding to protests over President Donald Trump's appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Court, Security Today reported that the force employed 125 officers.[3]

Legislation authorized the Police to carry firearms in 1982.[2]

Currently, the Supreme Court Police are responsible for protecting the Chief Justice, Associate Justices, building occupants, and the Court's historic building and grounds. Additional responsibilities include courtroom security, dignitary protection, emergency response, and providing assistance to building visitors.[1]

Units of the Supreme Court Police include[3]:

  • Uniformed Services
  • Protective Services
  • Threat Assessment Unit
  • Background Investigation Unit
  • Honor Guard
  • Key Response Squad
  • HazMat/Bomb Response
  • Canine Unit

Supreme Court officers are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia. They may retire at the age of 50 with 20 years of qualifying service, or at any age with 25 years of service. They are awarded "enhanced retirement benefits".[4]

File:76.HealthCareReformProtests.SupremeCourt.WDC.27March2012 (6876926134).jpg
An officer of the Supreme Court Police in March, 2012.

In 2016 the starting salary for a newly hired member of the Supreme Court Police was $60,000 a year, when the national average for police officers, regardless of seniority, was $53,000.[2]

Duties

Some hearings of the Supreme Court trigger so much interest that interested observers begin lining up hours before the court convenes.[5] The court normally convenes at 10:00am, and the Supreme Court Police will begin handing out placeholder tickets to those who are lined up, at 7:30am.

Notable incidents

In a review of Justice Harry Blackmun's private papers, in the Missouri Law Review, Tony Mauro summarized an incident of ethnic profiling, from 1997. A guest of Justice David Souter, Rafaat Toss, saw retired Justice Blackmun having breakfast in the Supreme Court cafeteria.[6] Toss saw several colleagues go over to greet the retired justice, but when he tried to do likewise three members of the protective detail held him back, admonished him for trying to bother the justice, while he was having breakfast, and threatened to arrest him if he didn't return to his table and sit down.

When Souter was mugged, while jogging, in 2004, commentators questioned why his protective detail hadn't been present.[6] Members of the Police explained that Justices prefer to rely on their relative anonymity for protection.

When Supreme Court judges leave the Washington Area the Supreme Court Police contract with the US Marshal Service to provide security, but only if the Judges request that protection.[3] Security Today reported that an NGO, Fix the Court, has been critical of the lack of transparency over how this protection has been provided. The group reported that Freedom of Information Act requests showed that Chief Justice Roberts did not ask for protection for the US leg of a trip to Japan. They reported that the Marshals protecting Antonin Scalia were unaware of his health concerns during his fatal 2016 trip to Texas.

In October 2018 crowds of critics protested the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh.[7] 165 protestors were arrested by the Congressional Police, and 5 were arrested by the Supreme Court Police.[8]

See also


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Koerner, Brendan I. (2004-05-03), "Who Protects David Souter?", Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2099853/, retrieved 2007-04-27 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bathroom Readers' Institute (2016). Uncle John's UNCANNY Bathroom Reader. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781626867604. https://books.google.ca/books?id=gCdZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT97&dq=washington+%22Supreme+Court+Police%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju8Kuv047gAhXmLLkGHYCYCMgQ6AEIOjAD#v=onepage&q=washington%20%22Supreme%20Court%20Police%22&f=false. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ralph C. Jensen (2018-10-10). "Securing the Supreme Court: Who protects the Court and its inhabitants?". Security Today. https://securitytoday.com/articles/2018/10/10/securing-the-supreme-court.aspx. Retrieved 2019-01-26. "Who protects the court and its inhabitants? Does the Supreme Court receive protection from the Secret Service? The short answer is no. Unlike most members of the federal judiciary, they do not received protection from the U.S. Marshals Service either." 
  4. United States Office of Personnel Management, Federal Law Enforcement Pay and Benefits: Report to the Congress, 2004; pp. 2, 13.
  5. Lisa T. McElroy (2012-12-18). "Cameras at the Supreme Court: A Rhetorical Analysis". Brigham Young University Law Review. https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2696&context=lawreview. Retrieved 2019-01-26. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Tony Mauro (Fall 2005). Lifting the Veil: Justice Blackmun's Papers and the Public Perception of the Supreme Court. pp. 1-2. https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.ca/&httpsredir=1&article=3674&context=mlr. Retrieved 2019-01-26. 
  7. Tara Bahrampour (2018-10-08). "Most of the protesters arrested during Kavanaugh confirmation have been released". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/most-of-the-protesters-arrested-during-kavanaugh-confirmation-have-been-released/2018/10/07/da7c76f0-ca46-11e8-a360-85875bac0b1f_story.html?utm_term=.43431bc670a9. Retrieved 2019-01-26. "But five people arrested at the Supreme Court remained in the D.C. jail over the weekend, said Kathleen Arberg, a court spokeswoman." 
  8. Jerry Zremski (2019-01-10). "Buffalo activist arrested in Supreme Court protest". Buffalo News (Washington DC). https://buffalonews.com/2019/01/10/buffalo-activist-arrested-in-supreme-court-protest/. Retrieved 2019-01-29. "Victoria Ross, the Peace Center's executive director, said Supreme Court police arrested Bowman and four other human rights activists because they unfurled a banner on the high court steps. The banner stated: "We Target. We Torture. We Terrify. Who Are We?"" 

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