Ruth Sent Us, the radical left-wing group that posted the home addresses of six Supreme Court justices online last month, is planning to stage a protest outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home Wednesday evening, hours after an armed man was arrested there for allegedly threatening to kill Kavanaugh.
Early Wednesday morning, police took an armed suspect into custody outside Kavanaugh’s home in Montgomery County, Maryland. The suspect had allegedly called emergency dispatchers and said he intended to murder the justice and then kill himself.
FBI Special Agent Ian Montijo filed an affidavit in court that said the suspect, Nicholas John Roske of California, told police he was upset with the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that indicated the court would overturn its abortion precedents and believed Kavanaugh would also vote to loosen gun control laws after the recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Roske allegedly found Kavanaugh’s address online, bought a Glock pistol, and traveled to Maryland intending to kill him. He has been charged with attempted murder of a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
The private home addresses of six Supreme Court justices, including Kavanaugh’s, were posted online by Ruth Sent Us in May after a draft majority opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked to Politico. The draft document, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, explained the court’s reasoning for upholding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban and overturning its precedent in Roe v. Wade.
Though there is not yet an official decision by the court, pro-abortion rights activists seethed and began possibly illegal demonstrations against the impending decision outside the private homes of the Republican-appointed justices.
When the Washington Post broke the news Wednesday that an armed suspect making threats against Kavanaugh’s life was arrested outside his home, Ruth Sent Us downplayed the incident on Twitter and denied reports that the suspect was carrying a gun and a knife.
“We are committed to non-violence. Fundamentalists will talk non-stop about how our peaceful protests inspired this, rather than the daily mass-murders in America,” the group tweeted. “Oh, what was this ‘weapon’ the ‘California man’ had? If it was a gun or even a knife, police would say so.”
The FBI affidavit confirmed that the suspect, Roske, had a tactical knife and a Glock 17 pistol with ammunition in his possession when he was taken into custody. He was also carrying pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, among other items, the FBI said.
When a Twitter user responded to Ruth Sent Us and said the group’s tweet “will not age well,” the left-wing activists asserted “Yes, it will,” and said, “We’re protesting peacefully at his home again tonight.”
Subsequent tweets by Ruth Sent Us announced that the group intends to participate in protests outside of Kavanaugh’s and Chief Justice John Roberts’ homes in Chevy Chase, Md. Wednesday night.
“We offer our thoughts & prayers to Brett & Ashley Kavanaugh after a California man arrived by taxi near their home, armed with a gun & knife, then called the police on himself to confess his murderous rage against the abusive alcoholic ‘Justice’,” the group mockingly tweeted. “We didn’t send him.”
According to another leftist activist group, Downright Impolite, the demonstrations will begin at 7 p.m. ET.
Republican lawmakers responded to the alleged threat against Kavanaugh by calling on the Democratic House majority to pass a bill providing additional security measures for Supreme Court justices.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) railed against House Democrats on the Senate floor Wednesday for blocking the bill — which passed unanimously in the Senate.
“House Democrats need to stop their multi-week blockade against the Supreme Court security bill and pass it before the sun sets today,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned in May that political violence directed at the court and its justices is “likely to persist and may increase leading up to and following the issuing of the Court’s official ruling” on abortion.