Marble chunk crashed into courtyard used by Supreme Court justices, aides: Report

by Elizabeth Crisp - 10/13/23 10:59 AM ET

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File
FILE – The setting sun illuminates the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023. The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether South Carolina’s congressional districts need to be redrawn because they discriminate against Black voters. The justices said Monday they would review a lower-court ruling that found a coastal district…

A massive piece of marble fell at the Supreme Court last year in an area used by justices and their aides, but the news only became public this week.

The Associated Press reported that the incident, which could have been disastrous, took place as the court was already dealing with death threats and security concerns over the eventual decision to overturn Roe v. Wade after a draft version had been leaked.

The AP cited multiple unnamed court employees, while noting the court won’t acknowledge that the incident even happened.

The employees said no one was injured when the marble fell, but that it could have seriously injured someone, as it was much larger than a basketball-sized chunk that fell near the court’s front entrance in 2005, per the AP.

The Supreme Court’s spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

According to the AP, an employee said Justice Elena Kagan and her law clerks had been in the courtyard earlier in the day.

The court building was built in the 1930s to move the Supreme Court out of the Capitol across the street. The interior courtyard where the marble reportedly fell is made of Georgia marble.

The building, which is normally open to the public on weekdays and hosts many school group tours and others, was still closed when the marble fell because of the coronavirus pandemic, AP reported.