A California man has been arrested in Maryland, near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Nicholas John Roske, a native of Simi Valley, California, was picked up by local police after he called 911 himself early Wednesday morning.
At the time of his arrest, Roske had in his possession pepper spray, a knife and a firearm, and other items that could be utilized for breaking into a building. Roske is set to appear before a federal court judge in Maryland Wednesday afternoon.
Roske gave himself up, and he’s made some startling confessions to police about his intentions. Roske is being charged with attempting to murder a United States Supreme Court Justice, according to public filings obtained by Fox News. Some of the details of his arrest and confession have been made public.
Roske told local police that he “wanted to give his life purpose.”
Without saying if he was influenced by any particular comments by American leaders, Roske said that he bought the firearm as well as the knife and pepper spray in order to break into the Kavanaugh home, murder the justice, then take his own life. Roske revealed further details of his plan when speaking with investigators from the FBI.
Since the story around the attempted murder broke, multiple critics have brought up comments made by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who spoke to protestors outside the Supreme Court building in 2020. During his remarks, Schumer said that Kavanaugh and fellow Justice Neil Gorsuch would “pay the price” for a ruling on a Louisiana abortion law case.
Schumer quickly said that he meant the two conservative justices would pay a “political” price. However, the justices are appointed for life, not elected.
Democrats have been largely quiet when the Justices were doxed a few weeks ago, with a pro-choice group publishing the addresses of the conservative justices online. Shortly after, many protestors began gathering outside Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barret’s homes. Some also posted outside Justice Samuel Alito’s home as well.
Critics have said all along that protesting outside a justice’s home could constitute violating a law which holds that judges may not be intimidated; they said that protesting outside the home of a judge or justice would constitute intimidation. However, former Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at the time that the Biden Administration supported “peaceful protests.”
Of course, political pundits are already saying that a lack of criticism from the White House emboldened individuals who might do harm to the Justices in the wake of a leak at the beginning of May. This leak appeared to be a draft in which the Court would overturn Roe v. Wade and send the decision of whether or not to allow for abortion – and under what terms – to the individual states.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, U.S. Marshals keeping a watch near the Kavanaugh home observed an individual getting out of a taxi in front of the Kavanaugh home. Dressed in black from head to toe, Roske was carrying a suitcase as well as a backpack (in addition to his weapons, Roske had items such as duct tape in his bags).
Before he actually went through with his plan, Roske called 911 and spoke to a dispatcher at the Montgomery County Emergency Communication Center. Roske is alleged to have told the operator that he was “having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase.”
Later, Roske would tell investigators that he was upset regarding the prospect of Roe v. Wade being overturned. He was also deeply troubled by the Uvalde school shooting in which nineteen innocent children and two of their teachers were murdered.
Roske said he believed that Kavanaugh would “side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws.”
Many Americans are anxiously awaiting the decision in regards to the future of Roe v. Wade.
When Montgomery County officers encountered Roske, he was still on the phone with 911 operators. Both the sheriff’s department and U.S. Marshals are handling the investigation.
