Man pleads guilty to trying to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh

A California man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge that he tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022, when he was arrested near the justice’s home in Maryland with a pistol, a knife and other weapons.

Nicholas J. Roske had told police he was upset about the deadly 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and believed that Kavanaugh would loosen gun control laws, prosecutors said. He also told police that he was upset about a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that revealed that the justices were poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion.

Roske was arrested June 8, 2022, after he traveled from California to Kavanaugh’s home in Montgomery County with a Glock pistol, two magazines of ammunition, a knife, pepper spray, zip ties and other gear, prosecutors said. Roske called 911 after he arrived at the house in a taxi about 1 a.m. and saw two deputy U.S. marshals who were guarding the residence get out of their vehicles.

Roske told police that he was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts, that he had a gun in his suitcase and that he had come from California to kill Kavanaugh, prosecutors said in court documents.

On Tuesday, Roske, 29, of Simi Valley, California, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to a charge of attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison at his sentencing Oct. 3, his lawyer said.

“Nicholas Roske appeared in court today and accepted full responsibility for his conduct by pleading guilty,” the lawyer, Andrew Szekely, said in a statement. “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.”

In a statement Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she welcomed the guilty plea.

“This calculated attempt on the life of a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice was a heinous attack on the court itself,” she said. “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.”

In court documents, prosecutors said that, in the spring of 2022, Roske developed a plan to assassinate “one or more” Supreme Court justices. He searched for their home addresses on the internet and looked up ways to break and enter into homes and ways to kill people, prosecutors said.

“The thought of Roe v Wade and gay marriage both being repealed has me furious,” he told an unidentified user on an encrypted messaging app May 25, 2022, prosecutors said. Two days later, prosecutors said, he told the same user that, “i could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come. and I am shooting for 3.”

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