Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the Senate on Tuesday to answer questions regarding the sentencing of Nicholas Roske, who was convicted of attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in 2022.
Bondi addressed concerns about Roske’s prison placement, stressing that he would not serve his eight-year sentence in a women’s facility.
“Senator, that’s not going to happen,” Bondi told Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“That’s not going to happen in the Bureau of Prisons now.”
The Department of Justice has confirmed that it will appeal the sentence immediately.
Bondi said the decision to appeal was made as soon as the ruling was issued.
Judge Deborah Boardman handed down the eight-year term, citing Roske’s so-called transgender identity as a factor in her decision.
During the sentencing, Judge Boardman consistently referred to Roske using female pronouns.
This followed an announcement from Roske’s attorneys that he now identified as female.
Roske’s lawyers stated that they would refer to him as “she” in court proceedings, though they did not change official court records to reflect the claimed gender identity.
Boardman indicated that she was concerned President Donald Trump’s policy, which states that men are not women, would require Roske to serve time in a men’s prison.
The judge also noted that Roske could face restrictions on access to cross-sex hormones if placed in a men’s facility, which influenced her decision to consider the sentence leniency.
Several major news outlets reported Roske’s sentencing using female pronouns and identifying Roske as a woman, Resist the Mainstream previously highlighted.
NBC News, for example, penned: “A woman who pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh three years ago was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.”
This prompted a community note on X correcting the claim in which the fact-check referenced NBC’s own earlier coverage identifying the suspect as male.
The Post Millennial (TPM) reported that Canada’s CBC, in another example, ran the headline: “California woman sentenced to more than 8 years over plot to kill Supreme Court justice.”
Reports confirm that Roske only began identifying as transgender after being jailed prior to his trial.
Authorities have disclosed that Roske planned to target additional Supreme Court justices beyond Kavanaugh.
The DOJ’s appeal seeks to challenge both the length of the sentence and the influence of Roske’s gender identity on the ruling.
Bondi emphasized that Roske will be housed according to his biological sex, consistent with federal prison policy.
The case has drawn national attention due to the attempted assassination of a sitting Supreme Court justice and the role that gender identity played in sentencing.
Boardman’s ruling is among a limited number of federal cases where a newly claimed transgender identity influenced both the length and conditions of a sentence.
The appeal will likely focus on whether the judge’s consideration of gender identity in sentencing was appropriate under federal law.
Roske’s eight-year sentence remains in place pending the outcome of the DOJ appeal, though legal observers anticipate it could be reviewed in coming months.
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