In the first appearances by members of the Supreme Court before Congress in seven years, Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett testified on Tuesday in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Although the focus of the justices’ testimony was the court’s budget, which Congress appropriates, the two discussed a wide range of issues, from security and enforcement of the court’s ethics code to its emergency (Kagan’s preference) or interim docket.

Kagan responded that “our democracy … rests in their hands and how we function as a country going forward is in large measure up to them.” She urged young people to “take all of the opportunities that they can to learn about our country and learn about its history and learn about our government institutions and then … figure out how they can do better and leave the world a better place than they found it. I think I am optimistic that this generation of people will do just that.”

Barrett added that she was “heartened that so many people are here and waiting in line to want to see this hearing. I think it shows engagement with our democratic process. I think what they have seen is a really constructive bipartisan effort in this hearing to address these issues and I hope they see that in the court’s work. We work hard to disagree well when we disagree, and we agree a lot of the time, and I think that kind of constructive engagement and not just throwing your hands up and saying I’m not going to deal with people with whom I disagree is what we need to move forward.”