Attempted Kavanaugh assassin heads to trial after 2 years

(The Daily Signal) – The man who told authorities that he traveled from California to Maryland with the intent to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will be heading to trial, court documents show.

Nicholas John Roske, then 26, traveled to the Kavanaugh home in Maryland in June 2022 with the express intent of killing Kavanaugh and two other justices after he saw their addresses posted online, according to a U.S. Department of Justice affidavit. Authorities found him carrying soft-soled boots, a Glock pistol, a tactical knife, two pistol magazines, pepper spray, a crow bar, a screwdriver, and a hammer.

“I’m gonna stop Roe v. Wade from being overturned,” Roske told a friend in an online conversation, according to an FBI search warrant obtained by Fox News, saying he would “remove some people from the Supreme Court.”

That friend told Roske that “two dead judges ain’t gonna do nothing,” adding, “The whole government is f*****. There’s no fixing that. You would die before you killed them all.”

“Yeah,” Roske responded, “but I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come, and I am shooting for three. All of the major decisions for the past 10 years have been along party lines, so if there are more liberal than conservative judges, they will have the power.” 

Roske was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on the charge of attempting to murder a Supreme Court justice and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. He has been in custody for the past two years. On Friday, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte to move toward a trial.

“As of this date, the parties have not been able to agree upon the terms for a pretrial resolution of this case,” prosecutor Kathleen Gavin wrote, court records show. “Accordingly, the government requests a scheduling conference to set … dates for pretrial motions and trial. Counsel for the defendant has advised that he joins in this request.”

Shortly after the May 2022 leak of the draft opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case showing that the 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion throughout the United States would soon be overturned, the radical pro-abortion group Ruth Sent Us posted the justices’ addresses online. The group began urging protesters to go to the homes of the “six extremist justices” who likely voted in support of the opinion overturning Roe: Chief Justice John Roberts and Kavanaugh, along with Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch.

Far-left protesters from Our Rights DC and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights joined these groups in targeting the justices’ homes, even though federal law, 18 U.S. Code Section 1507, forbids picketing or parading “in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer” with the intent of intimidating or influencing that person.

Supreme Court cases have increasingly become fraught with peril for conservative justices and those litigants who do not harbor leftist sentiments. Litigants often face death threats, protesting, harassment, and “doxxing” (putting their personal information, even their addresses, online to encourage harassment).

Following the May 2022 leak of the draft Dobbs opinion indicating Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned, Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers faced an onslaught of violent pro-abortion attacks.