Marshal of the Supreme Court

For its first decades the Supreme Court relied on the U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia to keep order, until Congress created the office of Marshal of the Supreme Court in 1867. The Marshal is appointed by the Court and serves at its pleasure. The office's duties grew when the Court moved into its own building in 1935 and when the Supreme Court Police, a force under the Marshal's direction, received full law enforcement authority in the following decades.

At the start of each session, the Marshal or a deputy strikes a gavel and calls out the traditional cry of oyez as the Justices take the bench, and during oral argument the Marshal's office runs the lights that signal when a lawyer's time is nearly up and when it has expired. The Marshal pays the Justices and Court staff, manages the building and its facilities, oversees visitor services and ceremonies, and directs a police force of more than 100 officers that guards the building and protects the Justices at home and when they travel.

Security for the Justices became a major concern after a man armed with weapons was arrested near a Justice's home in June 2022, weeks after a draft opinion leaked, and Congress soon extended police protection to the Justices' family members. The Marshal led the investigation into the leak and reported in January 2023 that the source could not be identified. Supporters say an in-house officer gives the Court control over its own security and operations, while critics have questioned whether the Court should investigate itself and have called for outside review of its security and ethics.