WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and his wife Joanna were robbed last week at their vacation home on the Caribbean island of Nevis by a man armed with a machete, a court spokeswoman said yesterday.
Spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said the robbery took place on the evening of Feb 9, the intruder stole about $1,000, but no one had been hurt. Two unidentified guests also were present.
The robbery was reported to local authorities but Arberg said she did not know if there had been any arrests and added that she had no details about the investigation. She said the 73-year-old Breyer and his wife were no longer in Nevis.
The US high court has been on a four-week break in the middle of its current term during which it is scheduled to hear landmark cases involving healthcare and immigration.
A spokesman for the US Marshals Service said the agency does not discuss the particulars of its judicial security operations, including those involving Supreme Court justices.
“What I can confirm is that the Marshals Service is aware of the incident involving Justice Breyer on the Caribbean island of Nevis and is assisting the Supreme Court Police and local law enforcement authorities with the investigation as needed,” spokesman Jeff Carter said.
Nevis is part of a federation with the nearby island of Saint Kitts.
It was not the first time that a crime has been committed against a member of the US Supreme Court.
In 2004, then-Supreme Court Justice David Souter suffered minor injuries when he was mugged by a group of young men as he jogged alone near his residence in Washington.
In 1996, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the victim of a purse snatching as she walked home with her husband and daughter from the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to their nearby residence in their Watergate apartment complex. No one was hurt.
