Sen. Kennedy left shocked by judge's 8-year sentence for attempted Kavanaugh assassin

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., joined a chorus of Republicans arguing that a judge gave a lenient sentence to a man convicted of attempting to assassinate 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." 

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Roske, who now identifies as transgender and prefers to be called Sophie, was sentenced Friday by Biden-appointed Judge Deborah Boardman for attempting to assassinate Kavanaugh in June 2022, weeks before the landmark Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

The Justice Department sought a tougher sentence of at least 30 years, whereas Roske's defense team requested eight. 

Kennedy said the sentence is "way too little," telling co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino that Roske will likely "be out in six" years and will be a "danger to society."

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"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."

Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett told "Fox & Friends" that Roske's defense capitalized on the judge's history of siding with liberal litigants. 

He added that they argued leniency because Roske is transgender and allegedly suffers from mental issues due to medication and gender identity problems.

"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 murder Kavanaugh and three other justices. Well, it doesn't matter under the law," he continued.

"The defendant schemed and plotted, took affirmative acts to murder. It was foiled only because the federal marshals were there to stop it."

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Friday that the DOJ plans to appeal Roske's sentence. 

Jarrett told Fox News' Lawrence Jones prosecutors have "solid arguments" that the judge "dramatically departed" from federal guidelines and minimum mandatory sentences.

Roske had traveled from California and was arrested near Kavanaugh's Maryland home. Roske acknowledged noticing marshals at Kavanaugh's house, which prosecutors said prompted him to change course and walk down the street before calling 911 to surrender. 

Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this report.