Judge gives 8-year sentence in Brett Kavanaugh assassination plot

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 3, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced the attempted assassin of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to more than eight years in prison Friday.

Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, sentenced Sophie Roske, who is transgender and referred to as Nicholas Roske in some court documents, to 97 months in prison, along with lifelong supervised release.

Roske pleaded guilty to attempted assassination of a Supreme Court justice without a plea agreement earlier this year. Justice Department attorneys initially sought at least 30 years in prison for Roske, with the possibility of a life sentence.

According to court documents, Roske flew from California in June 2022 and took a taxi to the Maryland neighborhood where Kavanaugh lived. Roske then walked away from the house and called 911 to self-report, telling the operator of suicidal and homicidal thoughts and intended to act on them, according to court documents.

Boardman, in delivering the sentence, said that some of Roske’s actions, including turning herself in, justified the departure below the 30 years to life in prison that federal sentencing guidelines suggested.

“Though she got far too close to executing her plans, the fact remains that she abandoned them,” Boardman said.

Boardman applied the sentence after acknowledging the “real harm caused to Justice Kavanaugh and his family” by Roske’s actions.

At the all-day sentencing hearing, Justice Department attorney Coreen Mao argued that Roske’s conduct “posed a very real threat to our system of government and to our Constitution,” and pushed Boardman to impose a longer sentence.

“No judge or public official should have to live under the fear that at any moment at any time of the day they could be killed simply for doing their job,” Mao said.

Mao argued that Roske only changed course after seeing law enforcement outside the home. Mao said representatives for the Supreme Court were present at the hearing but did not testify.

Mao said Roske, in the leadup to taking a flight from California, made multiple internet searches about items to purchase and made posts on Discord and Reddit about potentially killing a justice.

Mao also showed off some of the items Roske was arrested with in the courtroom, including zip ties, duct tape, a hammer, nail punch, pry bar and tactical vest with pepper spray and a knife. Mao said the presence of those items “all show the defendant had a singular focused determined mission; a mission to kill to assassinate a sitting Supreme Court Justice.”

During the hearing Boardman also questioned Mao about Roske’s treatment in prison, as there is a current executive order mandating that Roske be placed in a male-only facility. Mao responded to say that she did not know how Roske would be assigned, and that the treatment of transgender inmates in federal prison is the subject of litigation.

Roske’s attorneys requested an 8-year sentence. Ellie Marranzini, one of Roske’s attorneys, argued that Roske abandoned the attempt before becoming aware of law enforcement outside of Kavanaugh’s home after having a “crisis of conscience.”

Marranzini played the 911 call in court where Roske provided information to emergency responders about where she was and what weapons she had.

“These actions are consistent with someone who has, as in past moments of crisis, stopped short of doing something terrible and called for help,” Marranzini said.

In a statement before Boardman announced the sentence, Roske herself spoke. Crying and stopping several times, she apologized for her actions, the fear she caused for Kavanaugh and his family, as well as involving her family and friends in the case.

“I’m deeply sorry to the Justice Department for contributing to the fear judges experience just for doing their jobs,” Roske said.

Roske has been in jail since the initial arrest, and much of the intervening time in the case was spent with defense attorneys investigating possible mitigating factors, according to court records.