Budget cuts to the agency tasked with protecting federal judges and courthouses are straining resources amid a rise in threats against the judiciary and the additional responsibilities of providing 24/7 protection to Supreme Court justices.
Congress chopped $13 million this fiscal year off the roughly $1.7 billion budget for salaries and expenses for the US Marshals Service. The judiciary’s separate court security budget, which covers the salaries of guards at courthouses who work with marshals, remains the same as last fiscal year. It’s an effective cut given inflation.
The cuts, which took effect in March and run through the end ...