During a March 2020 speech on the steps of the Supreme Court, New York Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer loudly, publicly and vehemently threatened Trump-appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Schumer said: “Now, we stand here today because behind me, inside the walls of this court, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments, as you know, for the first major abortion right cases since [Justice] Kavanaugh and [Justice] Gorsuch came to the bench. We know what’s at stake. Over the last three years, women’s reproductive rights have come under attack in a way we haven’t seen in modern history. From Louisiana, to Missouri, to Texas, Republican legislatures are waging a war on women, all women, and they’re taking away fundamental rights. I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
At 1:50 a.m. on Wednesday, police officers in Montgomery County, Maryland arrested an armed man near Kavanaugh’s residence.
Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, California, was the man arrested, according to the Department of Justice.
The arrest affidavit says that authorities searched Roske’s suitcase and backpack and found the following items: A black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, a screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items.
After being transported to a police station, Roske allegedly told detectives that he was upset about the leaked Roe v. Wade draft opinion as well as the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
A criminal complaint accuses Roske of “attempts to kidnap or murder, or threatens to assault, kidnap or murder a United States Judge, to wit: a current Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”
Roske is accused of saying that he was “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.”
CBS News reported that a 911 call for a suspicious man near Kavanaugh’s home came in at 1:15 a.m. EDT. The Supreme Court said the man was arrested at 1:50 a.m.
Ruth Sent Us, the pro-abortion group that doxxed Kavanaugh and led protests at his Maryland home last month, tweeted at 1:27 a.m.: “We have been and we will continue to put in the work. We need to eject one corrupt theocrat from our Court. Taste just one win, witness one elite white man punished and discarded for his crimes, and then we can build on that.”
Police have increased security for the justices after the leak last month of a draft opinion suggesting the conservative wing of the court was preparing to undo the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established abortion as a constitutional right.
Since the leak, protesters have demonstrated outside Kavanaugh’s home.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, called the report of the arrest “extremely disturbing” and urged the House to approve a measure expanding police protections for Supreme Court justices to include their immediate family members. The Senate passed the bill last month.
“This is exactly … the kind of event that many feared that the terrible breach of the court’s rules and norms could fuel,” McConnell said.
Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise said: "We were vocal a few weeks ago, speaking out against this encouragement you saw from the White House on down to encourage people to go to the homes...of Supreme Court Justices. It is a dangerous trend."
In a tweet, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates called Scalise, a survivor of a leftist assassination attempt, a liar: “This is a lie. The White House never encouraged that.”
Then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on May 10: “Protests have been peaceful to date. We certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges' homes and that’s the president’s position.”
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