Man Accused Of Attempting To Assassinate Brett Kavanaugh Pleads Guilty, Allegedly Planned To Murder Several SCOTUS Justices
He reportedly sought to 'remove some people' from the high court, which 'would change the votes for decades to come.' The post Man Accused Of Attempting To Assassinate Brett Kavanaugh Pleads Guilty, Allegedly Planned To Murder Several SCOTUS Justices appeared first on Above the Law.
In early June 2022, in the wake of the unprecedented leak of a draft of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs opinion, Nicholas Roske, a California man in his mid-20s, was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home. Roske, who was reportedly angry about the Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, was found with a gun, a knife, zip ties, and burglary tools, and allegedly told police that he wanted to kill Kavanaugh, one of the Court’s conservative justices. Later that month, when the Court’s official decision was released, it was revealed that Kavanaugh had joined the 6-3 majority opinion to declare that there is no longer a constitutional right to abortion.
Roske was charged with one count of attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice, and his trial date had been set for June 2025. Roske has entered a guilty plea ahead of trial, and details from the government’s investigation are now available. The National Law Journal has the scoop:
Roske boarded a flight from Los Angeles International Airport on June 7, 2022, carrying a gun and ammunition in his checked baggage with the intent to kill Kavanaugh after landing at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, prosecutors alleged.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland filed a brief April 3 alleging Roske “developed a plan to assassinate one or more Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States” in late spring 2022.
Prosecutors obtained Roske’s encrypted online messages from May 2022 discussing how “people have killed judges before” and his desire to “remove some people” from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Roe v. Wade from being overturned, according to court documents.
Murdering multiple Supreme Court justices “would change the votes for decades to come,” Roske is accused of writing in an encrypted messaging app on May 27, 2022. “I am shooting for 3.”
Roske is represented by the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the District of Maryland, one of whom shared the following statement with the NLJ: “Mr. Roske’s accountability began on June 8, 2022, when, in the throes of a mental health crisis, he called 911, told police where he was and what he was doing and asked for help. After his call, Mr. Roske cooperated with the authorities to ensure he was safely taken into custody. We look forward to addressing further details about the case at sentencing.”
In a statement on the matter, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “This calculated attempt on the life of a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice was a heinous attack on the Court itself. Anyone who thinks they can use violence or intimidation to influence our courts will be met with the full force of the law and face up to life in prison.”
Roske is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3.
California Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill SCOTUS Justice Brett Kavanaugh [National Law Journal]
Earlier: Man Accused Of Attempting To Assassinate Brett Kavanaugh Will Head To Trial In June 2025
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The post Man Accused Of Attempting To Assassinate Brett Kavanaugh Pleads Guilty, Allegedly Planned To Murder Several SCOTUS Justices appeared first on Above the Law.
