Judiciary
Increasing court security concerns restrict some activities, Justice Thomas says
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at an event at the University of Texas at Austin in April. (Photo by Eric Gay/The Associated Press)
Heightened security is necessary for U.S. Supreme Court justices, and that makes some things difficult for Justice Clarence Thomas, he recently told a Florida audience at a conference organized by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta.
“The security concerns now are much different from the way they were when I first became a circuit justice. That’s really one of the big changes since I’ve been on the court—that it’s become very, very dicey,” Thomas said Thursday, according to CNN.
Thomas said the changes have kept him from personal pursuits too, including attending college football games.
“And as I said, because of the security concerns, I’m not able to move around as much as I used to,” the most senior associate justice and a member of the high court’s conservative wing lamented.
Thomas said something similar earlier this year, when an in-person event at the American University in Washington, D.C., was switched to a remote appearance because of security concerns, according to the article.
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