An affidavit submitted by the FBI in the case of a California man accused of plotting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh says the suspect had a larger plan in mind.
The 39-page affidavit concerns Nicholas John Roske, who was arrested near Kavanaugh’s Maryland home on June 8.
Roske had been enraged by a leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision in which the justices appeared poised to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. The court later did issue such a ruling.
The affidavit relates an online conversation in which Roske said, “im gonna stop roe v wade from being overturned.” When asked what he planned, Roske replied, “remove some people from the supreme court.”
He told the unnamed individual with whom he was corresponding, “I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come, and I am shooting for 3.”
The document does not say which other justices Roske, 26, wanted to kill.
He added, “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.”
The affidavit said Roske told investigators 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.
“Roske indicated 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.
The document 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.”
At the time of his arrest, Roske had with him a pistol, knife, hammer, crowbar, pepper spray, zip ties and other equipment.
The affidavit also said that between May 5 and June 8, Roske’s cellphone search history included terms such as “quietest semi auto rifle,” “Reagan assassination attempt,” “most effective place to stab someone,” “assassin skills,” “assassin equipment,” “assassinations,” “how to be stealthy,” “gun lubricant” and “supreme court.”
