The man poured an accelerator and set fire to the car, which was parked just outside the court building, the office said. He was then taken by ambulance to treat his wounds.
“An individual poured an accelerator and set fire to an unmarked Supreme Court police vehicle parked on Maryland Ave. near First Street, NE. The car was completely burned and an adjacent Court vehicle was also damaged,” he said. Kathy Arberg, the court audience. information officer, in a statement to CNN. “The individual suffered burns in the process. The Supreme Court police detained him and transported him by ambulance to treat his injuries.”
The court is not in session this week, after concluding its mandate last Thursday. In recent days, however, judges have intervened in several death penalty cases, issuing a nightly ruling earlier this week that a federal execution, the first in 17 years, could proceed.
It is unclear if the judges have been working inside the building in the past few months. As the nation faced the coronavirus pandemic, oral arguments, which have traditionally attracted crowds both inside and outside of court, were transferred to radio waves. Although the building remains open for official business, it is closed to the public.
The out-of-court incident occurred the same day that Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from the hospital after being treated for a possible infection in her latest health scare.
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