Man who plotted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sentenced to just eight years in prison

Nicholas Roske, who plotted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to assassinate a justice of the United States, and has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Key Takeaways:

• Roske was arrested in 2022 in Kavanaugh's Maryland neighborhood; he was reportedly carrying burglary tools, a gun, a knife, and pepper spray, along with other gear.

• The assassination attempt took place after a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.

• Roske later admitted he wanted to kill Kavanaugh, as well as other Supreme Court justices, specifically in retaliation for Roe being overturned.

• He eventually pleaded guilty, and has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

The Details:

In June of 2022, Roske was arrested and told police his intent was to kill Brett Kavanaugh. With him, he had “in his suitcase and backpack… a Glock 17 with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, a tactical knife, a hammer, a screwdriver, a crowbar, zip ties and duct tape, along with other gear.” 

Initially, his attorneys sought to negotiate a plea deal, which failed, so preparations for a trial began. By April of 2025, however, Roske's lawyers said he was ready to plead guilty, shortly before his trial would begin in June.

Roske was facing up to life in prison, but he was sentenced to just eight years, according to the Department of Justice.

“The attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a disgusting attack against our entire judicial system by a profoundly disturbed individual,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “The Department of Justice will be appealing the woefully insufficient sentence imposed by the district court, which does not reflect the horrific facts of this case.”

“Nicholas Roske will now pay the price for attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court Justice in a violent plot to alter the court’s composition and its rulings,” FBI Director Kash Patel added. “Violence against federal judges or other public officials is unacceptable and will be met by the full force of the law. The FBI will work aggressively with our law enforcement partners to detect and stop these schemes and protect our nation.”

The Backstory:

Roske admitted the draft leak convinced him to assassinate Kavanaugh, after which he would commit suicide. “I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him,” he said.

He had also written about his plan online, which including potentially killing other justices. “Im gonna stop roe v wade from being overturned … I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come, and I am shooting for 3," he wrote in one message.

His plan was foiled when he texted his sister to tell her he loved her, and then spotted security detail outside Kavanaugh's house. His sister called him and convinced him to turn himself in.

“She wanted to have me as a sibling for the rest of her life and not, you know, with that ending,” he said.

Sadly, violence against judges and the pro-life movement in general has become common since the fall of Roe. Supreme Court justices, however, were among the primary targets.

The pro-abortion group “Ruth Sent Us” doxxed the pro-life justices, organizing protests in front of their homes and making threats against their children. They published directions on how to get to the school attended by Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s children online, and tagged Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley, in a tweet of a photo taken outside her children’s school. Pro-abortion journalist Caroline Reilly further encouraged such violence, writing on social media, “[M]ore of this. [M]ay these people never know a moment of peace or safety until they rot in the ground.”

Yet after the assassination attempt on Kavanaugh, pro-abortion groups tried to downplay the attack.

The Bottom Line:

Pro-abortion violence has been downplayed by the government and the media alike, but it is all too real. Roske is just another example - as is the fact that he received only a slap on the wrist for perpetrating it.