The arrest on Wednesday of a potential assassin near the home of Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh is part of a surging trend of threats and violence against courts.
While rarely reported on, there were over 4,500 threats last year, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which handled the arrest of Nicholas Roske near Kavanaugh’s Maryland home.
According to a newly issued Congressional Research Service report shared with Secrets, there were 4,511 threats on courts, judges, and jurors in fiscal 2021. The report said that represented an increase of 387% since 2015 “when there were 926 such incidents.”
Despite the surge, House Democrats withheld consideration of legislation to increase security spending for courts and court officers, drawing a heated retort from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
BREAKING: House Democrats just BLOCKED a bill to provide more security for Supreme Court justices and their families.
This passed unanimously in the Senate, yet Speaker Pelosi refuses to bring it up for a vote—despite today’s foiled plot to kill Justice Kavanaugh. Shameful. pic.twitter.com/W94z8xh90u
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) June 9, 2022
McCarthy played a procedural card on the House floor that the Democrats did not agree to. He responded by tweeting, “This passed unanimously in the Senate, yet Speaker Pelosi refuses to bring it up for a vote — despite today’s foiled plot to kill Justice Kavanaugh. Shameful.”
At issue was the Supreme Court Police Parity Act (S. 4160), which would extend security to the families of Supreme Court judges. It has passed the Senate.
