Man accused of attempted murder of Brett Kavanaugh gets trial date

A trial date has been set for a man accused of attempting to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte had scheduled the trial of Nicholas John Roske for June 2025. This week's hearing for Roske, who is accused of attempted murder of Kavanaugh, is the first hearing in the case in nearly two years.

In June 2022, Roske, a resident of California, was arrested near Kavanaugh's home in Maryland. At the time of his arrest, Roske was found in possession of a firearm, a knife, and zip ties. Roske was reportedly dressed all in black when he arrived near Kavanaugh's home around 1 a.m. local time. Roske was 26 years old at the time of his arrest, federal authorities said.

After his arrest, Roske pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted murder of a U.S. Supreme Court justice, a crime that carries a life sentence in prison.

According to an FBI agent's affidavit obtained by the AP, Roske told authorities he was angry with Kavanaugh for leaking the opinion on the Roe v. Wade Decision.

In May 2022, Politico obtained a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court justices, which was later confirmed by the court as authentic. This leak showed that a majority of the justices were willing to Roe v. Wade after hearing arguments about a Mississippi law that directly challenged the landmark abortion rights case.

The US Supreme Court later ruled in favour of the annulment Roe v. Wadewhich protected the right of a pregnant woman to choose an abortion.

In online documents obtained by the FBI, Roske wrote that the assassination of a Supreme Court justice could potentially force the court to change its stance “for decades to come.”

“I'm aiming for three,” Roske added in his online post, authorities said.

The affidavit also revealed that Roske expressed concern about a possible change in gun laws following the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

Roske was arrested after calling 911 and telling a dispatcher that he was near Judge Kavanaugh's home and intended to take his own life. He was discovered by two U.S. Marshals assigned to the 24-hour security detail that protects the judges.

On Tuesday, Roske appeared for his hearing in a Baltimore court. He did not say a word during the entire hearing, which lasted about 20 minutes.

During Tuesday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Gavin said that “jury selection in this case may take a little longer.”

One of Roske's lawyers, Andrew Szekely, also said in court Tuesday that they do not intend to request a psychiatric evaluation from the court.