When U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and his entourage entered a Law School classroom Thursday afternoon, many in the room thought the Secret Service had just walked in. They were close, but wrong.
The “big men in suits,” as one student reported, were U.S. Marshals — federal law enforcement agents within the Department of Justice who protect court officers and “ensure the safe and secure conduct of judicial proceedings,” according to the agency’s website.
And like the Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals are one of several federal, state and local security forces the University works closely with when a high-profile visitor comes to campus.
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said handling high-profile figures like Chief Justice Roberts entails precise coordination of various law enforcement entities, like the Secret Service and U.S. Marshals, as well as DPS, state and local police, personal security and public relations staff.
“Marshals, State Department officials, DPS officers — each group has different responsibilities,” Brown said. “Sometimes they’re responsible for a particular geographic area, or a certain type of crime.”
While reducing the number of unplanned visits and limiting the volatility of the visitor’s activities are among law enforcement’s top priorities, Brown said things go awry more often with lower-profile figures who don’t bring in security personnel.
“The bigger challenges come with, for lack of a better term, speakers who deal with controversial issues or create controversy, and don’t come in with their own security,” Brown said. “They provoke people or crowds, and most of the unplanned occurrences are reactionary.”
Such figures include recent visitors like political activist Bill Ayers and controversial author Norman Finkelstein, each of whom spoke at the University this past winter. Though they heightened tensions on campus, their visits occurred without serious incident.
By contrast, Brown said visitors like former President Bill Clinton, who spoke at commencement in 2007, the Dalai Lama, who visited last year, and Roberts follow meticulously planned itineraries, which include the publicly planned events, as well as lodging, traveling routes and hospital arrangements, should they be needed in case of an emergency.
“Any deviations from their schedules are carefully monitored,” Brown said. “Bill Clinton, for instance, had the reputation of wanting to be involved with the public, shaking hands and conversing. But he also realized that it put pressure on his security detail and the local law enforcement when he does that.”
Similar problems arise when a Supreme Court chief justice grants an impromptu overtime question-and-answer session to unsuspecting law students.
“Once he reached a level of comfort with the people in the classroom, he felt he could stay longer, though it put pressure on his crew of marshals,” Brown said.
Though he felt comfortable in the classroom, Roberts, a Notre Dame fan who attended this weekend’s game, took perhaps the greatest risk on his way to the football game on Saturday — according to Brown, when he walked to the stadium, just like most of his maize-and-blue-clad hosts.
The security forces that arrive with visiting dignitaries are often responsible for the person’s immediate protection, whereas DPS, state or local officers are in charge of securing the perimeter of areas the person will visit and assisting with any incident control, Brown said.
“DPS is responsible for the main security or investigating of crimes on campus,” Brown said. “In the event of a threat to security this weekend, (the U.S. Marshals) would be responsible for escorting Chief Justice Roberts to a safe area, whereas we would work with local police to secure the surrounding area and its crowd.”
The U.S. Marshals are responsible for similar duties as those that protect the president, according to Kevin Pettit, a deputy U.S. Marshal stationed in the Detroit field office.
“Chief Justice Roberts gets around-the-clock protection — there is a crew of Marshals with him at all times,” Pettit said.
Brown and Pettit said they were not permitted to release the number of Marshals in Chief Justice Roberts’s detail.
Brown said the University attracts enough important figures to campus that DPS and the state and local police can now smoothly cooperate with the visiting security forces.
“We work very closely with DPS, and we can’t say enough good things about them,“ Pettit said. “They supplement our manpower, do external protection, and they work with us in facilitating (the important person’s) movements.”