California resident gets over 8 years in prison for attempt to
assassinate Justice Kavanaugh
[October 04, 2025]
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A California resident who attempted to assassinate
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland home was
sentenced Friday to over eight years in prison by a federal judge, who
imposed a punishment that is significantly more lenient than the Justice
Department’s recommendation.
Sophie Roske, a transgender woman charged under her legal name, Nicholas
Roske, had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. U.S. District
Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced her to eight years and one month behind
bars followed by a lifetime of court supervision. Prosecutors had asked
for a prison sentence of no less than 30 years, which was the low end of
the range recommended by sentencing guidelines.
Roske, then 26, had a pistol, a knife, zip ties and burglary tools in
her possession when a taxi dropped her off outside Kavanaugh’s home in
Chevy Chase, Maryland, just after 1 a.m. on June 8, 2022. Noticing two
U.S. Marshals Service deputies guarding the residence, Roske kept
walking down the street and took a phone call from her sister. Then she
dialed 911, reported having suicidal and homicidal thoughts and said she
needed psychiatric help.
The judge said law enforcement didn't know anything about Roske's plot
until she called 911 and reported her crime unprompted. Boardman
described Roske's conduct as “reprehensible” but credited her with
abandoning the plot before police detected her presence in Kavanaugh's
neighborhood.
“This is an atypical defendant in an atypical case,” she said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department will appeal "the
woefully insufficient sentence ... which does not reflect the horrific
facts of this case.”
“The attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
was a disgusting attack against our entire judicial system by a
profoundly disturbed individual,” Bondi said in a statement.
Roske apologized to Kavanaugh and the justice's family “for the
considerable stress I put them through.”
“I have been portrayed as a monster, and this tragic mistake that I made
will follow me for the rest of my life,” Roske said before learning her
sentence.
Boardman acknowledged that Roske's plot caused “real harm” to Kavanaugh
and his family.
“He's a justice of the Supreme Court, but he's a human being,” the judge
said.
After her arrest, Roske told investigators she was angry about a leaked
draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court intended to overrule Roe v.
Wade, the landmark abortion case, according to an FBI affidavit. Roske
also was upset about the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and believed
Kavanaugh would vote to loosen gun control laws, the affidavit said.
Roske’s case underscores the pervasive threat of political violence in a
polarized nation: The number of threats and “inappropriate
communications” directed at federal judges and other court employees
more than quadrupled over a seven-year span, from 926 incidents in 2015
to 4,511 in 2021, according to the Marshals Service.
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Roske targeted three of the high court’s justices, prosecutors said.
Killing one judge could change the decisions of the nine-member
court “for decades to come,” Roske wrote over an encrypted messaging
platform to another user in May 2022. Roske added, “I am shooting
for 3.”
Roske, 29, of Simi Valley, California, searched the internet for
justices’ home addresses and other information, including techniques
for breaking into homes and quietly killing somebody. Roske also
wrote about killing judges in encrypted messages.
“The thought of Roe v Wade and gay marriage both being repealed has
me furious,” Roske wrote.
Roske pleaded guilty in April to an attempted assassination charge
without reaching a plea agreement.
Prosecutors recommended a prison term of no less than 30 years,
followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
“The defendant’s objective — to target and kill judges to seek to
alter a court’s ruling — is an abhorrent form of terrorism and
strikes at the core of the United States Constitution and our
prescribed system of government,” they wrote.
Roske’s attorneys asked for a prison sentence of eight years. They
said she is ashamed and remorseful for frightening Kavanaugh and his
family.
“I am very glad I did not continue,” Roske wrote in a letter
submitted to the court. “I am also sorry for contributing to a trend
of political violence in American politics. I can see now how
destructive and misguided such acts are, and am ashamed to have not
recognized these things sooner.”
Roske’s lawyers said she was struggling with mental illness and her
gender identity. She came out to herself as a transgender woman in
2020 but kept it a secret from her parents. She recently resumed
receiving gender-affirming care while imprisoned, according to her
attorneys.
Roske was severely depressed and suicidal in May 2022 when Politico
published a leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s abortion rights
opinion. Roske decided she could “give her life some meaning” by
stopping the Supreme Court from overturning Roe v. Wade, her lawyers
said.
“Crucially, she stopped short of causing harm to another person,”
they wrote. “Her actions resulted in large part from isolation and
inadequately treated mental illness. But in her deepest moment of
crisis she showed her humanity.”
Prosecutors said Roske’s mental illness isn’t an excuse.
“The sentence here must forcefully convey to the defendant and
others that taking matters into one’s own hands as the judge, jury,
and executioner is wholly condemned and will be punished,” they
wrote.
Roske’s parents, Vernon and Colleen, also apologized to Kavanaugh
during the sentencing hearing. Vernon Roske said he wishes that he
had communicated better with Sophie about her personal struggles.
“I should have pushed for her to get better care,” he added.
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