Mother and Relatives of Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin Plead for Leniency Because He’s ‘Transgender’
The mother and other relatives of Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022, are urging a federal judge to show leniency in his upcoming sentencing because he is “transgender.”
Roske, who now identifies as “Sophie” and uses female pronouns, pleaded guilty in April to plotting to kill Kavanaugh. His family contends that his actions were due to him still “being in the closet” and not telling his family about his desire to live as a woman.
In June 2022, Roske arrived outside Kavanaugh’s Maryland home armed with a firearm and a plan to kill.
Roske ultimately called 911 on himself, expressing suicidal thoughts and later regret, stating he had forgotten that “judges and politicians making policy are real people too.”
Roske, who grew up in a Christian conservative family, reportedly battled mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, stopped therapy and medication, and began questioning his gender.
“This is when several of the pieces of the puzzle started coming together,” Roske’s mother wrote in a character reference letter.
Roske himself apologized in a statement, saying the idea of violence “would never have occurred” if he hadn’t been suicidal, and that he was “still in the closet” without treatment when the Dobbs decision on abortion rights fueled his actions.
“I am also sorry for contributing to a trend of political violence in American politics,” Roske wrote in a letter to the judge, obtained by Life News, which added that he was “raised by conservative Christian parents who loved me and still love me.”
“So when Dobbs came around, I was still in the closet and had not been taking medicine or going to therapy for two years,” he said. “When the draft leaked my self esteem was at rock bottom, along with my hope for the future.”
Roske’s sister expressed concern that he would be “housed in a men’s prison with limited access to gender affirming care” in her letter to the judge.
Life News reports, “Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee who will decide Roske’s fate, refused to allow parents in a separate case to opt their young children out of LGBTQ storybook lessons, a decision the Supreme Court reversed in July.”
NOW: Sentencing underway for Nicholas Roske, the 29-year-old California man who traveled to Maryland in 2022 with the intent to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh.
The judge is referring to the defendant as “Ms. Roske” after his attorneys asked the court to refer to him as “Sophie.” pic.twitter.com/2HVnwoUZ6m
— Kaelan Deese (@KaelanDC) October 3, 2025
The government is seeking a 30-year prison sentence, with sentencing scheduled for Friday.
The Gateway Pundit will update this story when the sentence is handed down.
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