Justice Brett Kavanaugh stands during a group photo of the justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The California man who allegedly tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is set to face jurors — late next spring.
Nicholas John Roske, 28, is now slated to begin his trial on federal charges beginning June 9, 2025, in a Maryland U.S. District Court.
The decision was made during a Tuesday status and scheduling conference before U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte.
The defendant stands accused of one felony count of attempting to kidnap or murder, or threatening to assault, kidnap, or murder a judge, specifically, a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
The proposed date would pin the beginning of trial proceedings almost exactly three years to the day of the underlying incident.
Roske was arrested outside of Kavanaugh’s Maryland home during the early morning hours of June 8, 2022.
“At approximately 1:50 a.m. today, a man was arrested near Justice Kavanaugh’s residence. The man was armed and made threats against Justice Kavanaugh,” the high court’s public information officer Patricia McCabe said in a statement to Law&Crime. “He was transported to Montgomery County Police 2nd District.”
Roske, a former substitute teacher from Simi Valley, is alleged to have become politically radicalized by the leaked Supreme Court decision that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade opinion.
The defendant, however, armed with a Glock and other potential weapons, apparently was not driven to actual violence. A federal criminal complaint details how Roske was intercepted by law enforcement before a single shot was fired.
The charging document reads:
On June 8, 2022, at approximately 1:05 a.m., two United States Deputy Marshals saw an individual dress in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase, get out of a taxicab that had stopped in front of the Montgomery County, Maryland residence of a current Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The individual looked at the two Deputy U.S. Marshals, who were standing next to their parked vehicle, and then turned to walk down the street.
Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center fielded a call from an individual who identified himself as NICHOLAS JOHN ROSKE. ROSKE informed the call taker that he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase. ROSKE also told the call taker he came from California to kill a specific United States Supreme Court Justice. The Montgomery County Police Department officers were dispatched to the location near the Supreme Court Justice’s residence where they encountered ROSKE, who was still on the telephone with the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center. ROSKE was taken into custody without incident and law enforcement officers seized both the backpack and the suitcase that were still in his possession.
More Law&Crime coverage: Man accused of attempting to murder a justice allegedly asked on Reddit if ‘Kavanaugh being removed’ would ‘help women long term’
Once he was taken into custody and Mirandized, the defendant allegedly said: “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.”
The defendant’s second bugbear, it seemed, was the mass shooter’s rampage that killed 19 students and two teachers and wounded 17 others — while police waited for an hour and 14 minutes outside — at an elementary school in the Lone Star State on May 24, 2022.
“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 federal complaint continues. “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. 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.”
The criminal legal system at the federal level has moved slowly since Roske was charged in an indictment on June 15, 2022. An original trial date was scheduled for Aug. 23, 2022 — but quickly abandoned at the defense’s request with no objection from the government.
The defendant has remained in custody since his arrest, and there have apparently been no efforts to secure his pre-trial release.
Law&Crime reached out to Roske’s federal public defenders for comment on this story, but no responses were immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
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