Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate on Tuesday, stating unequivocally that the man convicted of attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in 2022 will not serve his eight-year prison sentence in a women’s facility.
Bondi’s remarks followed controversy surrounding the sentencing, after the presiding judge cited the defendant’s transgender identity as a factor in imposing a reduced eight-year sentence rather than a longer term sought by federal prosecutors.
Bondi told the Senate that the Department of Justice plans to appeal the eight-year sentence handed down to Nicholas Roske, a biological male now identifying as a female, who was convicted last week of attempting to kill Kavanaugh.
Bondi said she made the decision to appeal immediately after the ruling was issued.
During the hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) referenced reports that the sentencing judge had considered placing Roske in a women’s correctional facility due to his transgender identity. In response, Bondi reaffirmed that Roske would not be transferred to a women’s prison and emphasized that the Justice Department is seeking a harsher sentence on appeal.
“Senator, that’s not going to happen,” Bondi said. “That’s not going to happen in the Bureau of Prisons now.”
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Pam Bondi says Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin will not be going to a women’s prison
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 7, 2025
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, stated that she considered Roske’s transgender identity when determining his sentence. The judge expressed concern that under President Donald Trump’s policy, which defines inmates based on biological sex, Roske would be required to serve his sentence in a men’s correctional facility and would be unable to access cross-sex hormone treatments while incarcerated.
The eight-year sentence was significantly less than 30 years sought by the Department of Justice. Roske’s defense team had requested an eight-year term, arguing that the defendant showed remorse and voluntarily contacted authorities before carrying out the attack.
Boardman said during a sentencing hearing that while Roske’s actions were “reprehensible,” she also considered a string of mitigating factors, including that Roske “spontaneously confessed to and cooperated with police.”
“Maryland U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman—a Biden appointee—is a national disgrace,” conservative lawyer Mike Davis, also strategist and former chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, wrote on X on Friday.
“She only sentenced to 8 years, instead of 30, someone who attempted to murder Justice Kavanaugh and his family in their home. Make no mistake: Today’s Democrats want conservatives killed,” he added.
Another person wrote that Boardman “needs to be removed from the bench right the f— now.” The same person also shared a screenshot of a different post indicating that Boardman asked if Roske would be sent to a women’s prison despite the fact that he’s biologically male.
Author M.A. Rothman, meanwhile, called the sentence “pathetic.”
“A guy who showed up at a Supreme Court Justice’s house armed and ready to k*ll him just got a lighter sentence than some people get for tax crimes — and the judge turned it into a trans acceptance story,” he added. “This is beyond parody. The DOJ wanted 30 years. He got 8. And the media barely blinked.”
Another person on X balked at Boardman considering the “fact that he now identifies as a woman into giving him a lower sentence.”
Bondi also responded to the light sentence.
“The attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a disgusting attack against our entire judicial system by a profoundly disturbed individual,” she wrote on X. “@TheJusticeDept will be appealing the woefully insufficient sentence imposed by the district court, which does not reflect the horrific facts of this case.”
Boardman was first appointed as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Maryland in 2019 before being nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a U.S. district judge. She was confirmed by the Senate in 2021. Prior to her judicial appointments, Boardman worked as a federal public defender.