The Case for Impeaching Judge Boardman

Last week, Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced Nicholas Roske to a shockingly light sentence. Roske is the person who flew cross country with the intent of murdering Justice Kavanaugh (and possibly other Justices) in an attempt to change the outcome of the Dobbs case. Roske made it all the way to Kavanaugh’s house where he saw that law enforcement were guarding the house. He then decided to call 911 and turn himself in.

Prosecutors in the case were asking for the recommended sentence of 30 years for his crime. The defense was asking for 8 years. Judge Boardman sided with the defense and gave Roske 8 years. The DOJ has already said it plans to appeal.

Today, Ilya Shapiro of the Manhattan Institute has a piece up calling for Judge Boardman’s impeachment.

Judge Deborah Boardman’s lenient sentencing of Nicholas Roske—the man who plotted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh—represents not merely poor judgment but a fundamental breach of judicial responsibility. She should be impeached.

I don’t say this lightly—and I’ve never before called for the impeachment of a federal judge. This constitutional mechanism exists to preserve the rule of law from genuine abuses of power, not to punish decisions we disagree with. But when a judge’s conduct reveals a disregard for her constitutional duty—and actively endangers the federal judiciary individually and collectively—we must consider the remedy the Framers provided…

Judge Boardman imposed an eight-year sentence, far below federal guidelines and lenient even by the standards of some nonviolent offenses. Such a response to a premeditated assassination attempt on a sitting justice cannot be squared with the seriousness of the crime or the need to deter political violence.

One of the striking facts of Judge Boardman’s sentencing last week was the fact that she seemed influenced to issue the light sentence because of Roske’s trans identification.

In a recent court filing, attorneys representing Roske said their client goes by Sophie Roske and is transgender. Roske began transitioning in 2020, the filing says. Roske’s name in court headings remains Nicholas Roske. In court Friday, Roske’s attorneys and Boardman referred to the defendant as Ms. Roske.

The judge was concerned that Roske would face incarceration in a male prison without access to gender affirming care.

The judge also said that a lower sentence was warranted because of an executive order issued by President Trump mandating that transgender women be held at male-only federal facilities, which she said could interfere with her continuing to receive gender transition care.

Here’s Shapiro’s take:

However sincere her concern, the courtroom is not the place for identity-based indulgence. A judge’s duty is to apply the law evenhandedly, not to validate the defendant’s self-expression.

This case reinforces the growing perception that America has a two-tiered justice system. Conservatives are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for political trespasses—some January 6 defendants were sentenced to more than 20 years—while left-wing violence is rationalized or excused. Had a Trump supporter armed himself to kill Justice Sonia Sotomayor, does anyone think the sentence would have been as light?

There’s no way a would-be assassin targeting a liberal justice would get this kind of kid-gloves treatment. Clearly, partisan politics have played a role here and that undermines the ideal of equality under the law. The sentence also makes no sense given that politically motivated violence is on the rise at the moment.

Judge Boardman’s conduct is doubly alarming against a backdrop of escalating political violence. The assassination of Charlie Kirk; the texted desire for the death of a political rival by Jay Jones (the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general); and the rise in ideologically motivated intimidation on and off campus reveal the thinning line between rhetoric and violence.

If the recent violence, including the deadly attack on a Texas ICE facility, had been targeting progressive individuals and causes, you can bet judges would not be handing out light sentences for planning and taking steps to carry out political assassinations.

Shapiro isn’t the first person to make this case. Michael Fragoso is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He said something similar on Tuesday at the Federalist.

In a year of preposterous district court decisions, this one takes the cake: Boardman gave a slap on the wrist to someone who planned and attempted the worst sort of political terrorism, it seems, because of her ideological sympathies. The decision is so potentially corrosive to our civic peace that Congress would be right to consider impeachment proceedings against Boardman…

What Boardman did in the Roske sentencing is different in kind from simply bending the law to rule against a disfavored party; she seems to have openly excused political violence on ideological grounds. She did this both in her substantive sentencing decisions and in her given justifications at sentencing…

At sentencing, Boardman reportedly was concerned about whether Roske would be placed in a women’s prison and given hormone replacement. She wondered openly whether Roske’s claimed transgender status should affect his sentence, and why, three years after the fact, Roske is actually a threat to the public. She observed, in the end, that she was “heartened that this terrible infraction has helped the Roske family accept their daughter for who she [sic] is.” Boardman even speculated that Roske’s terrorism was seeded in the challenges he had being transgender in a religious family. The left-wing terrorist became the real victim once he announced he was a “she.”…

It’s good that the attorney general intends to appeal Roske’s sentence. Even respected moderates such as Professor Orin Kerr agree she should. But it’s ridiculous that this case could eventually end up at the Supreme Court in the possible event that the left-wing Fourth Circuit agrees with Boardman. Will the justices have to rule on how to punish someone who tried to kill three of them? How many of them will recuse? Indeed, it’s hard not to wonder if Boardman, assuming a number of conservative justices would need to recuse, figured she had an opportunity to “do a little justice” without meaningful appellate review. 

It hadn’t occurred to me that this sentence could wind up before the Supreme Court and that the targets of Roske’s plot would need to recuse themselves. What a mess. Finally, here’s Carrie Severino’s take.

Judge Boardman departed way below the sentencing guidelines for the attempted Kavanaugh assassin. This is an act of domestic terror.

It’s really disturbing that his mental health concerns and gender dysphoria were given as a literal “Get Out of Jail Free” card — that’s not how… pic.twitter.com/lruHxqHIdE

— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) October 6, 2025

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