Armed man who wanted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh told police he was upset over abortion, Uvalde

Roske was taken to a Montgomery County police station after being arrested.

“After being taken to the precinct and advised of his constitutional rights, Roske agreed to speak with the authorities and signed a written waiver to that effect,” the affidavit said.

He then told a detective 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,” according to the affidavit.

Roske “indicated that he believed the Justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws,” the affidavit said.

Kavanaugh’s home, like those of other conservative Supreme Court justices, was the site of protests last month after the leak of a majority draft opinion that would overturn the constitutional right to abortion. That draft was written by Justice Samuel Alito, another conservative.

The Supreme Court is expected in the next several weeks to issue a final decision on a Mississippi abortion law that was the subject of the draft opinion. 

Wednesday’s incident occurred hours before the court released a ruling on a case unrelated to abortion.

Security has been tightened at all nine of the justices’ homes since last month, after the unprecedented leak of the draft.

The Department of Justice said in mid-May that the Marshals Service is providing “around-the-clock security” at the homes of all nine justices.

A spokesman for the Marshals Service told CNBC on Wednesday that security measures are still in place at the justices’ homes.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters, “This kind of behavior is obviously behavior that we will not tolerate.”

“Threats of violence and actual violence against the justices of course strike at the heart of our democracy, and we will do everything we can to prevent them and hold the people who do them accountable for that reason,” Garland said.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in a statement lauded the response by U.S. marshals and police, saying they acted “quickly to apprehend the suspect and prevent him from causing any harm.”

Hogan also said that he and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin “will continue to partner with both federal and local law enforcement officials to help ensure these residential areas” where Supreme Court justices live “are secure.”

“I call on leaders in both parties in Washington to strongly condemn these actions in no uncertain terms,” Hogan said.

“It is vital to our constitutional system that the justices be able to carry out their duties without fear of violence against them and their families.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning of the “continued heightened threat environment across the United States.”

The bulletin said that in the coming months DHS “expects the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/08/armed-man-arrested-outside-brett-kavanaughs-home-after-threatening-supreme-court-justice.html