ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT; UPDATES DECK
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - An armed man who threatened Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was arrested early Wednesday near the justice's Maryland home, the top court confirmed.
The man was arrested in the vicinity of Kavanaugh's Chevy Chase residence at around 1:50 a.m. local time, court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said in a statement.
The US Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland identified the suspect as Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, California. He has been charged with attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Two US Deputy Marshals spotted Roske exiting a taxi in front of Kavanaugh's residence at roughly 1.05 a.m. local time, the office said in a statement. He allegedly looked at the deputies and walked away.
"Shortly thereafter" the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center received a call from Roske in which he said he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase. He "allegedly stated that he traveled from California to Maryland to kill a specific Supreme Court Justice."
Police were dispatched and allegedly encountered Roske still on the telephone with the center. The attorney's office said a search of his suitcase and backpack uncovered a pistol, two magazines with ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crowbar, pistol light, duct tape and other items.
Kavanaugh's home was the site of demonstrations last month following the publication of a leaked Supreme Court draft majority opinion that would overturn 50 years of federal abortion protections should it become official. Kavanaugh is one of five justices who were part of the tentative majority opinion.
While the Supreme Court verified the draft's authenticity in the wake of the exceptionally rare leak, it maintained that no decision is final.
An official decision is expected to be published before the court's current term ends in late June or early July and the draft could see significant revisions in the interim. Justices could also change their positions as the draft circulates.
Security has been ramped up at justices' homes and the Supreme Court after Politico published the draft.
Roske allegedly told detectives that he was angered by the leaked preliminary decision as well as a devastating school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 students and two teachers were killed.