A District transportation commission voted unanimously Thursday to oppose a pop-up barrier designed to protect the U.S. Supreme Court, as Capitol Hill residents argued the barricade will deflect the brunt of a truck bomb blast into their homes.
Residents of the 200 block of A Street NE, less than 100 feet from the Second Street court entrance, saw the planned mid-block pop-up barrier as a land grab by a court reaching outside its federal jurisdiction. The 5-0 decision by the Department of Transportation’s Public Space Committee, they say, was “common sense” to protect a neighborhood of old brick row houses.
“Under D.C. law, the application the Supreme Court submitted is done,” said Karyn LeBlanc, DDOT spokeswoman.
In a January letter to A Street resident Kevin Shewbridge, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said court officials were “convinced that we must move forward with the placement of an in-ground barrier as planned.” Moving the barrier closer to Second Street, away from homes, she wrote, would not provide adequate security.
Residents also asked why the engineers can’t devise a way to fortify the court building.
“That’s our big picture window there,” Lindsay Slater, a block resident, said as he held his 3-week-old son. “And they want the blast to take place right outside.”
The court has not decided its next step, Arberg said. LeBlanc said DDOT encourages resubmittal, so long as the sides can work together on revised plans.
District Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton this week urged the court to delay the barrier installation. In a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, Norton wrote she could not believe anyone would sanction plan that assures “nearby homes and families would receive the effects of any truck bomb blast.”
Planned Supreme Court pop-up barriers
» Second Street north of East Capitol
» Second Street south of Constitution
» A Street west of Terrace Court
