Republican Outrage Over Light Sentence

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., aligned with fellow Republicans in decrying what they see as an overly merciful punishment handed down to the individual found guilty of plotting to k*ll Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“You have to separate these people from society,” Kennedy said Monday on America’s Newsroom, after Nicholas Roske received an eight-year sentence.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t try to rehabilitate them. But that’s the only answer and that’s why you find folks that have been repeated offenders again and again and again. What’s going to change? Except if you let them out, they’re going to hurt more people or take more people’s stuff. Eight years? I was shocked.”

The Case and Courtroom Battle

Roske, who now identifies as transgender and prefers to be called Sophie, received the sentence on Friday from Judge Deborah Boardman, appointed by President Biden, for the June 2022 plot against Kavanaugh—timed just before the pivotal Dobbs ruling that ended Roe v. Wade protections nationwide.

Federal prosecutors pushed for a minimum of 30 years behind bars, while Roske’s lawyers advocated for the eight-year term that was ultimately imposed.

Kennedy labeled the outcome “way too little,” warning co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino that the perpetrator could “be out in six” years and would remain “a danger to society.”

“I don’t know why people are like that. If I make it to heaven, I’m going to ask, but there’s some people that hurt other people, and they take other people’s stuff and, to protect everybody else, you’ve got to isolate them.”

Media Scrutiny and Federal Pushback

On Fox & Friends, Fox News legal expert Gregg Jarrett accused Roske’s legal team of exploiting the judge’s track record of favoring progressive cases.

He noted that arguments for mercy hinged on Roske’s transgender identity and supposed mental health struggles linked to medications and gender dysphoria.

“There was no way that this liberal judge was going to hand down a tough sentence…” he said.

“I do wonder whether the punishment might have been different if the assassination target was a liberal justice, not a conservative one. The judge seemed to think that it matters a great deal that Roske did not succeed in his plan to m*rder Kavanaugh and three other justices. Well, it doesn’t matter under the law,” he continued.

“The defendant schemed and plotted, took affirmative acts to m*rder. It was foiled only because the federal marshals were there to stop it.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed Friday that the Justice Department intends to challenge the ruling on appeal.

Jarrett advised Fox News’ Lawrence Jones that the government’s case includes “solid arguments” highlighting the judge’s “dramatically departed” stance from standard federal sentencing norms and mandatory minimums.

Roske had journeyed from California, getting nabbed close to Kavanaugh’s residence in Maryland. The would-be assailant admitted spotting security details at the justice’s property—a detail prosecutors say led to an abrupt pivot, with Roske strolling away before dialing 911 to turn himself in.

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