EXCLUSIVE: Attempted Kavanaugh Assassin Identifies As Transgender Woman, Legal Filings Show

WASHINGTON—The man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh identifies as a transgender woman and was deeply mentally ill and suicidal, according to court documents first obtained by The Daily Wire.

The Department of Justice is recommending that the defendant, 29-year-old Nicholas Roske, be sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempting to kill the Supreme Court justice in 2022, according to a Friday filing outlining the case against Roske. Roske pled guilty to the attempt to kill a United States Supreme Court Justice in April 2025, three years after authorities arrested him in Kavanaugh’s neighborhood, carrying a bag full of weapons and burglary tools.

A filing from Roske’s defense attorneys shows that Roske now goes by “Sophie Roske” and that his legal team will refer to him using female pronouns. A footnote on the filing, obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire, explains that the defense will not use Roske’s legal name “out of respect” for the would-be assassin.

“The case is captioned as United States v. Nicholas John Roske,” lawyers for Roske state. “That name remains Ms. Roske’s legal name, and she has not asked to recaption the case. Out of respect for Ms. Roske, the balance of this pleading and counsel’s in-court argument will refer to her as Sophie and use female pronouns.”

A source familiar with the legal proceedings in the case told The Daily Wire that Roske was using female identities online before the attempted murder, and now goes by the female name reflected in the defense filings.

Attorney General Pam Bondi told The Daily Wire that the attack is viewed as “political violence” and referred to Roske as a “disturbed individual.”

“This attempt against the life of a Supreme Court Justice was an attack on the entire judicial system that cannot go unpunished,” Bondi told The Daily Wire on Friday morning. “This Department of Justice condemns political violence and our prosecutors will ensure that this disturbed individual faces severe consequences for his deranged actions.”

In the filings obtained by The Daily Wire, Justice Department attorneys argue that the court’s sentence “must send the unequivocal, clear, and strong message that attempted violence and threats of violence against members of the judiciary — as well as other public and federal officials — cannot and will not be tolerated, and will be justly and severely condemned.”

They specifically state that the court’s sentence must be significant enough to not only “reflect the harm sought to be inflicted on the judiciary,” but also to send a message that the “consequences for these acts — no fewer than 30 years to life in prison — are not worth the perceived ideological ends.”

The revelation that Roske has been using a female name and pronouns is significant, given the rise in transgender violence across the United States. A gunman living with his transgender boyfriend is accused of murdering Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk last week. Kirk’s murder came only a few weeks after a 23-year-old trans-identifying gunman named Robin Westman opened fire on Catholic school children while they were praying in Minneapolis.

Kirk’s accused killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was living with a 22-year-old trans-identified male named Lance Twiggs, who was thrown out of his family home for allegedly abusing drugs and alcohol and excessive gaming. Robinson and Twiggs were in a romantic relationship, authorities said.

(Photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

The killings have prompted calls for investigations into transgender violence and extremism. Earlier this month, Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and senior director for counterterrorism, told The Daily Wire that the new draft U.S. Counterterrorism Plan addresses transgender violence.

The Daily Wire reported September 4 that the Justice Department was considering blocking trans-identifying people from buying firearms as part of “a range of options to prevent mentally unstable individuals from committing acts of violence, especially at schools.” Those discussions centered on the fact that those who identify as transgender suffer from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder describing the sense of unease that a man or woman may feel if he or she thinks that their biological sex is mismatched with their so-called gender identity.

And on Thursday, the conservative Oversight Project urged the FBI to designate “Transgender Ideology Violent Extremism” (TIVE) as a domestic extremism threat category and to “use the full toolkit of the FBI to prevent future attacks inspired by this ideology.”

Though it was reported in 2022 that Roske portrayed himself as a self-styled “trans gamer girl” on the internet, more information about the attempted assassin’s gender identity has not been made available to the public. Roske’s story had largely vanished from public scrutiny, other than occasional updates on his sentencing and charges.

The Friday DOJ filings show that Roske “meticulously researched, planned, and attempted to assassinate at least one — but had a stated target of three — sitting judges of the United States Supreme Court” with the “explicit objective” of “single-handedly” altering “the Constitutional order for ideological ends.” He conducted internet searches for the homes of the four Justices, purchased a Glock 17 pistol, ammunition, a rail-mounted tactical light with laser sight, tactical gloves, non-slip grip socks, cable ties, pepper spray, a lock pick set, a screwdriver, and a wrecking bar.

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