A smiling Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush excitedly posed for photos Saturday night with Lester Holt of NBC and Lisa Desjardins of PBS while talking to reporters about Indiana courts and the First Amendment.
But moments later she dropped to the floor of the Washington, D.C., ballroom following gunfire from an outside hallway.
“I was on the side of the room, and I heard shots, and I know what gunshots sound like,” Rush told the Indiana Capital Chronicle on Monday. “There were a lot of people in flak jackets and guns, and there were a lot of other people with guns in regular clothes. You did not know what was going on. You didn’t know who was who.”
She rose up after President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and many cabinet members were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. But she was told to get back down again, skinning her knee on the floor.
Texts started coming in from family on her phone while still under the table.
“We were all trying to figure out what’s going on,” Rush says of the thousands of attendees. “There wasn’t left, right, middle. There were 2,900 people that were scared and worried about each other as well.”
Cole Tomas Allen was arrested after allegedly charging a security checkpoint at the dinner. He has been criminally charged with trying to assassinate Trump, who was in attendance at that event Saturday.
Rush has been warning against threats inside Indiana for several years now, even asking for more court security funding. In January a Hoosier judge and his wife were shot through the door of their Lafayette home. They survived and five arrests were made.
Rush said the room was eerily quiet at one point and she thought of school children under their desks during mass shootings.
“And then I thought, no matter what your political bent is we were all in this together. And it was pretty sad. This is how you’re expressing your political views? Help a candidate run for office. Vote,” she said.
“The premise of the rule of law is you decide these disputes through civility and discourse and not fear and violence. So, to be in the middle of it, it was just tremendously sad.”
Rush was a guest of the Thomson Reuters table as a national leader of courts. And she brought Kathryn Dolan, public information officer for the Indiana Supreme Court, as her plus one to show the importance of working with the media.
“I’ve always got my eye on public trust and confidence so that was a focus,” Rush said.
“I myself did not think security was great. I thought about that just because I get my own share of threats,” she said.
Dolan was seated at a separate table and it took her 30 minutes to reach Rush after the gunshots.
“It started as a lovely night with my Chief Justice Loretta Rush at the White House Correspondents Dinner. But a very sad turn. Political violence is not the answer. It was a night to celebrate the 1st Amendment,” Dolan posted on her LinkedIn page.
Rush in 2024 asked lawmakers for additional money to help improve security in courthouses throughout the state. She told lawmakers there was an unprecedented level of threats against judicial officers, noting a survey found about 75% of Indiana judges surveyed reported being threatened.
Rush was seated near Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“There was no announcement and all the sudden they evacuated the president and first lady,” she said. “I remember seeing Karoline Leavitt go down and I was worried about her.”
Leavitt is Trump’s press secretary and is set to depart for maternity leave.
Rush said tensions are up in courtrooms, as well as other public domains. State lawmakers in December were swatted and intimidated ahead of the congressional redistricting vote.
“Let’s model great behavior. Let’s work our disputes out with civility and reason,” the chief justice said. “There was a commonality in that room. We came together trying to get through this horrific situation. I think we need to protect what we’re losing — civil discourse.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
