The individual who pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in 2022 will be sentenced Friday.

Federal prosecutors are seeking up to life imprisonment as the defendant, Sophie Roske, pushes for just eight years.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman will weigh the case’s disturbing evidence and concerns from Roske, who recently told the court she is transgender, about receiving care in prison under Trump administration policies.

Kavanaugh’s attempted assassination came as the court was preparing to overturn constitutional abortion rights, and it has become one of the highest-profile prosecutions in a rising trend of violence and threats against judges.

Friday’s sentencing also comes amid a reignited national conversation surrounding political violence in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Defendant faces up to life in prison

The Justice Department on Friday will ask the judge to sentence Roske to between 30 years and life in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release.

“This attempt against the life of a Supreme Court Justice was an attack on the entire judicial system that cannot go unpunished,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said when the request became public earlier this month.

To do so, prosecutors want the judge to apply a terrorism enhancement. They acknowledge Roske’s mental health struggles but say she repeatedly showed “independence and determination” in a mission of killing Kavanaugh.

“Deterrence in this case must send the message to all those who would plan to employ violence to achieve ideological ends, such as killing judges to change a judicial outcome,” prosecutors wrote. “It must seek to stop individuals well before arriving at the front yard of a sitting judge. It must seek to stop individuals from developing a plan, from plotting four justices’ addresses on a map, from accumulating burglary tools and dangerous weapons for use in the plan, and from traveling thousands of miles with a suitcase full of weapons.”

Roske, meanwhile, is asking for eight years imprisonment followed by 25 years of supervised release. Her public defenders point to Roske’s remorse and concerns that she won’t receive sufficient care under Trump administration policies requiring transgender........

© The Hill