Police: Suspicious Package Found on Steps of Supreme Court

U.S. Capitol Police on Thursday said a suspicious package was found on the steps of the Supreme Court.

“We are assisting the Supreme Court Police with a suspicious package. Out of an abundance of caution, we are also helping keep the area clear,” the department said in a tweet.

“We cannot provide further information about another agency’s case, but we will keep the community updated about our involvement.”

The report comes the same day the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions and solidified protections for workers who ask for religious accommodations.

In a unanimous decision the justices made clear that workers who ask for accommodations, such as taking off the Sabbath, should get them unless their employers show doing so would result in “substantial increased costs” to the business.

The court made clear that businesses must cite more than minor costs — so-called “de minimis” costs — to reject requests for religious accommodations at work. Unlike most cases before the court, both sides in the case had agreed businesses needed to show more.

In the affirmative action case, a divided Supreme Court declared race cannot be a factor, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

The court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years in invalidating admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.