Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen predicted Tuesday during a CNN interview that the upcoming midterm elections could be rife with violence, implying that Trump supporters were gearing up for a January 6 redux. Barely a day later, it was someone on his own side who attempted to exert political influence with deadly force.
Nicholas John Roske, a 26-year-old man from California, was arrested and charged with attempted murder Wednesday after he showed up to Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home dressed in black and armed with a Glock 17 handgun, ammunition, a knife, zip ties, pepper spray, and duct tape. Roske, who was upset that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade, found Kavanaugh’s address online and arrived at his home in a taxi shortly after 1 a.m. Security outside Kavanaugh’s home spotted Roske, but he was not detained until he called 911 himself, telling operators that he planned to kill Kavanaugh and then commit suicide. He wanted to give his life “purpose,” he claimed.
An incident like this seemed almost inevitable after the draft opinion overturning Roe was leaked last month. Pro-abortion protesters quickly created maps of the conservative Supreme Court justices’ homes and illegally picketed outside day and night. Pro-life pregnancy centers and churches have been repeatedly vandalized and firebombed. These were clear attempts to intimidate the justices into changing their opinion.
The White House did the bare minimum and condemned the attempted murder of Kavanaugh. In a statement to the press, deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said that Biden “is grateful to law enforcement for quickly taking him into custody” and “has consistently made clear, public officials – including judges – must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety or that of their families.”
However, the Biden administration’s messaging has not always been so crystal clear. They initially refused to condemn the protests, alleging that they were “peaceful” — even though federal and state laws prohibit attempting to sway the opinions of Supreme Court justices or protesting outside of private residences. Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on May 5, “the president’s view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document.”
She elaborated in a later press briefing that President Joe Biden “certainly…encourage[s]” protests at the Supreme Court justices’ homes.
“So I know that there’s an outrage right now, I guess, about protests that have been peaceful to date and we certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges’ homes and that’s the president’s position,” Psaki said on May 10.
After the protests escalated to vandalism and the interruption of Catholic masses, Psaki pivoted, saying that Biden didn’t want protesters to do anything “illegal.”
“[Protests] that should never include violence, threats, or vandalism,” Psaki said in a tweet. “Judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety.”
Despite the reversal, the White House had already sent a clear message to protesters that they were doing the right thing by trying to intimidate and strongarm Supreme Court justices. Nonetheless, Bates tried to distance the administration from this position and bafflingly insisted on Twitter Wednesday that Psaki “never encouraged people to protest outside justices’ homes.” Bates even posted the screenshot of the transcript wherein Psaki literally says, “we certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges’ homes,” while claiming she said the exact opposite. Is he literate? Who knows!
Any sane person knows it was just a matter of time before someone tried to whack a Supreme Court justice, and the Biden administration’s decision to egg on those protesters is further proof of their stunning incompetence. Meanwhile, Congress is reminding us that they’re no good either. The House is currently sitting on a bill that would increase security for Supreme Court justices because they’re apparently too busy planning televised primetime hearings for an event that happened a year and a half ago.
