The arrest early this morning of an armed man outside the residence of Justice Brett Kavanaugh is a stark reminder of the danger of violence against America’s most powerful judges as the Supreme Court prepares to release opinions on abortion, gun control, and voting integrity that, no matter which way the court decides, are likely to be met with anger.

A man identified by the FBI as Nicholas John Roske was taken into custody near the home where Justice Kavanaugh resides at Chevy Chase, Maryland. The location was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the high court. The Washington Post reports that Mr. Kavanaugh and his family were at home during the incident.

The accused, according to the criminal complaint, was in possession of a Glock 17 pistol, two magazines, a knife, ammunition, pepper spray, and zip ties. According to the FBI, a desire to “give his life purpose” drove Mr. Roske to contemplate murdering the Supreme Court justice, who was nominated to the high bench by President Trump. 

The zip ties are a ghastly echo of the murder in Wisconsin on Friday of a onetime Juneau County circuit judge, John Roemer. He was killed by a man he had once sentenced to six years in prison​​. The murderer, Douglas Uhde, had a list of targets that included the Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers, the U.S. Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer. 

Uhde killed himself before that list could be pursued, but not before he zip-tied Judge Roemer to a chair and executed him in what is being labeled by law enforcement as a “targeted attack” against the judicial system. It was one of the most ghastly slayings of a judge of any rank in American history, and copying it might be what Mr. Roske had in mind – it’s speculation at this point. 

These two incidents have raised the specter of judicial assassination and signaled an escalation of antagonism from that expressed through words and chants to that delivered with bullets. At a moment of upheaval inflamed by the leak of a high court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, America is bracing for the possibility of yet more politically motivated violence. A fence called “nonscalable” suddenly surrounds the Supreme Court.

Attacks on judges are not unheard of in America, though they are rare. In 1979, a United States district judge, John Wood of Texas, was assassinated by a defendant  convicted in a murder case. The highest-ranking American judge assassinated was Robert Smith Vance, a rider on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, who was slain by a bomb.

Vance, a centrist Democrat who’d been a leader of the party in Alabama before becoming a judge, had gone to his mailbox, retrieved the morning mail, and brought it into his home at Mountain Brook, Alabama. When he opened a package in the mail, it exploded, killing him instantly and injuring his wife, Helen. The murder shocked America and the world.

Following the leaked draft opinion last month, protesting crowds gathered outside the homes of several of the court’s conservative justices, including that of Mr. Kavanaugh. One opinion piece, written by Noah Berlatsky and published by NBC News, was titled, “Brett Kavanaugh Is Not In Danger — Unlike the Abortion Precedent He’s Ready to Overturn.” 

That prediction, in contrast to Senator Schumer’s, now appears incorrect. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security warned of elevated threats to Supreme Court justices in the wake of the leaked draft opinion.

The Senate has passed a bill, “The Supreme Court Police Parity Act,” that would extend further security protection to the families of Supreme Court justices. Currently under discussion in the House of Representatives, it would bestow on the court “security-related authorities equivalent to the legislative and executive branches.”

Minority Leader McConnell urged the measure be passed “before the sun sets today.” Attorney General Garland contended that “threats of violence and actual violence against the justices of course strike at the heart of our democracy.” Rulings on both guns and abortion are expected to be handed down this month.