A man allegedly caught lurking near U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh‘s home early Wednesday has been charged with attempted murder of a federal judge, the Department of Justice confirmed to The Daily Wire.
“A criminal complaint was filed today charging Nicholas John Roske, age 26, of Simi Valley, California, for federal charges of attempted murder of a Supreme Court Justice,” FBI Baltimore’s Joy Jiras said on Wednesday afternoon. “Roske is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt today at 3:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan.”
Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, California, was arrested in the Washington suburb of Chevy Case, Maryland early Wednesday, police said. A DOJ affidavit details how Roske allegedly traveled to Kavanaugh’s home armed with weapons and burglary tools with the intent to kill the justice and prevent him from ruling on Second Amendment and abortion cases.
“On June 8, 2022, at approximately 1:05 a.m., two United States Deputy Marshals saw an individual dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase, get out of a taxicab that had stopped in front of the Montgomery County, Maryland, residence of a current Justice of the United States Supreme Court,” the affidavit said.
Roske looked at the two U.S. Marshals who were standing by their parked cars and then walked down the street, according to the affidavit.
The Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center then received a call from an individual who identified himself as Nicholas John Roske and said he was having suicidal thoughts, that he had a gun in his suitcase, and that he had come from California to kill “a specific United States Supreme Court Justice.”
Police were dispatched to the justice’s home where they encountered Roske still on the phone with the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center. The officers took Roske into custody “without incident.”
“An inventory search of the seized suitcase and backpack revealed a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, paper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items,” the affidavit said.
Roske found Kavanaugh’s address online, the affidavit said. Pro-abortion advocates with a group called Ruth Sent Us had posted the address online, sparking heavy criticism from those who feared for the justices’ safety. Ruth Sent Us did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire, but put out a statement saying they do not “support violence.”
Roske told authorities that he was upset about the “leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision regarding the right to abortion as well as the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas,” indicating that “he believed the Justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws.”
“Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the Internet,” the affidavit said. “Roske further indicated that he had purchased the Glock pistol and other items for the purpose of breaking into the Justice’s residence and killing the Justice as well as himself.”
It is not immediately clear whether the Kavanaugh family was at home when this incident occurred. The FBI would not comment further to The Daily Wire on the Kavanaugh family’s whereabouts.
Top Republicans have attributed the attack to incendiary rhetoric from Democratic politicians. On Wednesday, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz warned: “The Biden admin encouraged protests outside of justices’ homes. Schumer threatened: ‘You have released the whirlwind & you will pay the price!’ Now a would-be assassin went to the home of a Supreme Court Justice.”
The arrest comes after several weeks of angry protests at the Supreme Court and at the homes of conservative justices in the wake of the leak of a draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Pro-abortion protesters and some Democratic lawmakers have deemed the court as “illegitimate” in anticipation of the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The Biden admin encouraged protests outside of justices’ homes.
Schumer threatened: “You have released the whirlwind & you will pay the price!”
Now a would-be assassin went to the home of a Supreme Court Justice. 1/x https://t.co/UmHS9L32eD
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 8, 2022
The case is a challenge to a Mississippi law greatly restricting the federal right to abortion granted by the landmark 1973 Roe decision. Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Roe and a subsequent case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld Roe, both must be overturned, and the right to allow, deny, or restrict the right to an abortion must reside with states.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the 98-page opinion states. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”
Protests have taken place outside the homes of the five Supreme Court justices who signed onto Alito’s draft opinion, which would overturn the landmark 1973 decision that made the right to abortion a constitutional right. Protesters have also gathered outside the home of Chief Justice John Roberts, whose position on the opinion remains unknown.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.