The uniformed security force at the Supreme Court has performed chores for the justices that have nothing to do with court business.Officers have been used to pick up relatives of the justices at airports or to help a retired justice's wife do her grocery shopping.
And the stately Supreme Court building has served as the rent-free site of wedding receptions when daughters of justices have been married. Court police were paid overtime to ferry guests and provide security.
Such tasks for members of the court's police force have led to grumbling and, according to the court's spokeswoman, caused the court to adopt a policy concerning the appropriate and inappropriate use of the police. The 80-member force constitutes about a fourth of the high court's total staff.
Toni House, the spokeswoman, declined to discuss in detail the instances when police were used for personal tasks.
"I really don't want to get into specifics," she said. "There were some past practices when no firm policy was in place. They have been discontinued."
But court employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say that when Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's daughter, Kristin, was married last weekend, her parents were hosts for a wedding reception for 300 guests at the court.
House said the reception was an "authorized court function, no different than any other official function" that requires officers to be on duty.
About a dozen officers were assigned to overtime duty to drive justices and other guests to the reception and to help with security.
Kennedy did not have to pay for using the building, but apparently did foot the bill for a caterer, flowers and installing a dance floor.
Similar arrangements were made for wedding receptions held by other court members, most recently Justice Antonin Scalia for one of his daughters.
After the adoption of a policy on the use of police, retired Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was told that officers no longer could drive his wife to the supermarket and push her shopping cart.
Several justices routinely have used police officers and court cars to pick up visiting relatives at airports or ferry them on sightseeing excursions, the employees said.
House said she had no knowledge of those incidents.
She said that police officers are no longer used as drivers unless a justice is in the car with them.
"This is the sort of policy that, by and large, is controlled by the chief justice (William H. Rehnquist)," House said. "He often confers with his colleagues, but the policy was worked out by the marshal (Alfred Wong) in conjunction with the chief justice."
She said she doubted the policy is abused frequently.
"It's hard to imagine this happening because of the volatility of the issue," she said. "The justices have been made aware of the sensitivity of the issue."
The nine justices have long enjoyed a perquisite provided by law - being driven to and from work.
Then, after a man punched Justice Byron R. White in the face and head in Salt Lake City in 1982, Congress authorized the use of court police to protect justices anywhere in the country.
Similar reports of the use of police elsewhere in the government surface from time to time. President Clinton fired William Sessions as director of the FBI in July for ethical lapses, including his wife's use of FBI cars and drivers for trips to the dressmaker and hairdresser. Former President Bush's chief of staff, John Sununu, came under criticism for using a government car and driver to go to a stamp show in New York.