Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, on Tuesday, advocated for increased security funding, highlighting the alarming surge in violent threats against federal judges.

The appeal coincides with predictions from the US Marshals that threats against the federal judiciary will rise by 38 percent by 2026. This follows a significant 25 percent increase from the prior year, underscoring a troubling trend.

“Those statistics might seem abstract,” Barrett remarked to lawmakers during a House session. “But experiencing them firsthand is a different reality altogether.”

Barrett recounted a personal experience when her security team provided her with a bulletproof vest, which she took home at a time when threats against her were notably severe.

“My security details sent me home with a bulletproof vest,” Barrett shared. “I carried it into my house, placed it in my bedroom, set it down on the table, and when I turned around, my 12-year-old son was standing there in the middle of my bedroom,” she added, vividly illustrating the impact of these threats.

‘He wanted to know what it was and why I had it,’ Barrett, the only sitting justice with school-aged children, said of the exchange with her son. ‘I didn’t know how to respond.’

The Supreme Court justices are far from the only individuals who have pressed for heightened security for federal judges in recent years. 

These threats, the justices stressed, have impacted them on a personal level. Barrett was the victim of an attempted incident six weeks earlier, as she noted Tuesday, and her sister, who lives in South Carolina, was the target of a separate threat last year.

‘They have required me [and] my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about,’ Barrett said.

‘For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,’ Kagan said at the outset of the hearing. ‘But as the chief justice has said, all members of the court continue to do their jobs as they do legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.’

The Supreme Court justices are far from the only individuals who have pressed for heightened security for federal judges in recent years.

There has been a rise in online harassment, threats of physical violence, and ‘doxxing’ judges at their home addresses, both via swatting— or the malicious act of calling in a false threat to SWAT teams or other tactical law enforcement, causing them to show up to a victim’s house without warning — and by sending them unsolicited pizzas at their home addresses.

Justices noted that the pizza deliveries are sometimes made in the name of a judge’s son who was shot and killed in 2020 after he opened the door to a disgruntled individual disguised as a delivery person.

These threats, the justices stressed, have impacted them on a personal level.

‘They have required me [and] my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about.

Their remarks come as Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has continued to speak out about the rise in threats against the high court – most recently in March, during a rare public speech to students at Rice University.

‘Personally directed hostility is dangerous,’ Roberts told the audience, ‘and it’s got to stop.’

Roberts’s remarks were seen at the time as a not-so-subtle nod to President Donald Trump, who blasted a federal judge on social media hours earlier as ‘wacky, nasty, crooked’ and ‘totally out of control’ for ruling against the administration.  c

A large-scale search effort came to a tragic end on Monday when the remains of a 34-year-old Canadian hiker, missing for nearly two weeks, were discovered in Washington’s Twin Sisters mountain range.

The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office reported that Gursimran Singh, hailing from British Columbia, had been unaccounted for since late June. He failed to return from his hike in the Twin Sisters. After a potential sighting was reported on Sunday, search teams resumed their efforts on Monday with support from the Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team and the Bellingham Mountain Rescue Council.

“Tragically, this became a recovery mission,” stated the sheriff’s office upon announcing Singh’s death. “Our deepest sympathies extend to Gursimran’s family, friends, and loved ones as they endure this sorrowful time. We share in your grief.”

Authorities first sought public assistance on July 1 when Singh did not return to his British Columbia residence, having last been seen three days prior. Investigators identified his last known position as South Twin, one of the principal peaks of the Twin Sisters range, where he was reportedly rock scrambling. His vehicle was discovered parked along Middle Fork Road.

The search soon grew as mountain rescue teams from across Washington joined local crews to search the steep mountain terrain.

Helicopters flew rescuers to South Twin Sister to search Sisters Glacier on foot while drones and aircraft from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations searched from the air.

After Sunday’s reported sighting, crews returned to the mountain Monday morning, where they found Singh’s remains.

“We are deeply grateful to all who contributed time, expertise and resources throughout this mission,” the sheriff’s office said.

Singh’s death comes just days after authorities recovered the body of another overdue hiker, Steven Dorsett, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Whatcom County.

A shocking assassination took place on a Bronx street Monday night when a 39-year-old woman was fatally shot as she entered her car, authorities and insiders reported.

The victim, Julia Anderson, was struck multiple times in the abdomen just as she was getting into her black Jeep on Murdock Avenue, close to Nereid Avenue in Wakefield, shortly before midnight, according to police and law enforcement sources.

Sources revealed that shots were fired from the direction of the vehicle’s passenger side, leaving it uncertain on Tuesday whether Anderson was the gunman’s intended victim.

Anderson, who lived in the nearby area of Mount Vernon, was discovered lying on the pavement by her car when officers arrived at the scene in response to a 911 call about the shooting.

She was urgently transported to Jacobi Medical Center, but tragically, she did not survive her injuries, police stated.

A woman who said she was the victim’s sister was seen being comforted by a friend at the scene of the crime.

No arrests had been made by Tuesday morning, and no information was available on a suspect.

Anderson has no arrest record in the Big Apple, the sources said.

It did not appear that anyone else was with her at the time of the shooting, according to the sources.

Recent court testimony reveals that the Mississippi teen accused of murdering an elderly couple was familiar with them prior to initiating a tense standoff with police.

Authorities allege that 17-year-old Cordarius Hobbs fatally shot 74-year-old Billy Blair and his 71-year-old wife, Virginia Carol Blair, during a break-in on June 3 in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Detailed accounts from Hobbs’ family during his preliminary hearing on Thursday revealed his acquaintance with the Blairs before the tragic incident.

Family members provided testimonies indicating that Hobbs had previously been employed by the Blairs for various chores, such as house cleaning, prior to the alleged crime. According to a report from WAPT, Billy Newsome, Hobbs’ grandfather, believes his grandson was called in for work on the day of the shooting, asserting his innocence.

Newsome expressed skepticism about the accusations, questioning, “My grandson used to work for the man; why would he rob someone he worked for? Why stay there with police outside and only run when they arrive in full force? Something doesn’t add up, something’s not right here.”

On June 3, three contractors installing a generator at the Blairs’ home discovered Carol Blair’s car door open with several guns on the seats around 10 a.m.., prompting them to call the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check at 11:30 a.m, according to a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation investigator.

By noon, the investigator said that officers arrived and were met with shots fired at them, starting a nearly two-hour-long standoff. Hobbs was captured after trying to run away from officers, the official said, adding that the teen was unarmed when he was caught.

Carol Blair was found in a bedroom curled in the fetal position and had three gunshots to the back of her head. Bill Blair was found lying on his back in the kitchen with three gunshot wounds to his face.

The state investigator said three firearms were found inside the home as well as 280 shell casings, all owned by Bill Blair.

Hobbs’ defense attorney, Zachary Vaugh, argued that there’s a lack of direct forensic evidence connecting the teenager to the shooting.

“There was nothing to say he’s a principle, he’s the one that pulled the trigger on these things,” Vaugh said. “One of the things alone was, one of the victims was shot twice on one side of the head and once on the other. I think that’s pretty compelling that somebody else may have been in there. There’s a lot of things that are possible, just a tremendous amount of things.”

“When you have an officer say there’s no one that can identify him at the time of the shooting, I just don’t see how that adds up,” he said.

Hobbs is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary, in addition to 10 other charges. He was denied bond.

In a statement on Facebook, the couple’s family previously said, “We are crushed in spirit, bruised, and brokenhearted, but we are not alone.”

Jason Busby, who was friends with the couple, remembered them as being extremely selfless when speaking with WLBT.

“The man would’ve given you the shirt off his back, his wife is the same, and they’re just great people. It’s just a tragedy,” Busby said. “Everybody around here is still in shock. They were just good people.”

MONTREAL — The spotlight shifted dramatically on Sunday from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s strong performance to an unexpected series of events involving a shoe, a clash with Marina Mabrey, and Laney-Hamilton’s first-ever ejection.

With just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter during Sunday’s 93-91 defeat to the Toronto Tempo, Laney-Hamilton was sent to the locker room after mistakenly striking Mabrey with a shoe.

Laney-Hamilton later clarified that she was attempting to return a shoe belonging to Jonquel Jones to her teammate. In the process, the shoe accidentally hit Mabrey, who initially was annoyed before understanding the mishap.

After the game, Mabrey expressed to reporters that she believed the incident wasn’t done on purpose. Laney-Hamilton also assured The Post that the incident was purely accidental.

“I would never aim to hit anyone with a shoe, especially if they’re unaware,” Laney-Hamilton explained. “I was just trying to pass the shoe back to a teammate who needed it. Unfortunately, it ended up hitting someone else.”

Laney-Hamilton knew spectators would try to connect the dots and make the incident a bigger deal than it was. Laney-Hamilton and Mabrey had been going at each other throughout the game as competitors do.

“I know just by the way that things were going throughout the game that it can look a certain way,” Laney-Hamilton said. “But that’s just not something that I would personally do … especially in a moment like that where the game is on the line.”

Laney-Hamilton was assessed a flagrant-1 foul late in the second quarter after her arm made contact with Mabrey’s face while the two scrambled for a loose ball.

In the third quarter, Laney-Hamilton and Mabrey got into a skirmish resulting in both receiving technical fouls.

The shoe throw was Laney-Hamilton’s second tech of the day, resulting in an automatic ejection.

Drama aside, it was one of Laney-Hamilton’s better showings at the office.

With Pauline Astier in foul trouble and Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally not with the team because of injuries, Laney-Hamilton helped provide a boost off the bench.

Laney-Hamilton believes her six-point, three-rebound outing is something she can build on.

“It definitely felt good to just kind of find some type of rhythm,” she said. “The game is a game of rhythm and so I think just hopefully I’m able to continue to build on that and everything.”

Laney-Hamilton’s difficult season has been well documented. Her role has fluctuated after returning from a yearlong knee surgery recovery. She’s on a one-year deal and could be a trade candidate with the Aug. 2 deadline approaching.

Laney-Hamilton, though, is doing her best to stay levelheaded.

“Just going into it with the mindset of just staying ready,” she said. “Obviously, it’s been really tough. Everything’s been kind of uncertain and just ups and downs, but I just really been trying to focus on staying ready for the moment and just going out there.” 

In a significant shift, the Trump administration on Friday dismantled decades of environmental protection laws safeguarding endangered species. This policy change could potentially open the door to drilling, mining, agriculture, and real estate projects in previously protected habitats.

The newly finalized rules, established by the Interior and Commerce Departments, alter the definition of what is considered “harm” to endangered species and their habitats under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Previously, the law barred any “habitat modification or degradation” that might threaten the survival of endangered animals by affecting their ability to reproduce or find food and shelter. This definition was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1995 decision.

On Friday, the administration termed the prior definition “outdated” in its official statement. They argued that the new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) aligns with its original text and intent, putting an end to what they described as excessive federal intervention over the years.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum commented on this change, suggesting that the previous approach turned routine activities into a regulatory quagmire, escalating costs that impacted citizens’ lives and broadening federal powers beyond congressional intent.

Burgum further claimed that federal agencies had utilized the ESA to hinder lawful land use, imposing burdens on American families and businesses. He characterized the administration’s recent action as a “common sense” move, asserting it adheres to the statute originally enacted by Congress.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added in a statement that the new rule would benefit fishermen who suffered from “overly broad and burdensome regulations.”

The rule