Tom Cotton Takes Action After Trans Man Who Plotted To Kill Kavanaugh Receives Light Sentence

Following a light prison sentence for the transgender-identifying man who plotted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced new legislation on Wednesday to bar far-left judges from using gender identity as a condition in sentencing. 

Cotton’s “Fair Sentencing Act” would ensure that transgender-identifying criminals do not get off the hook because of their gender confusion, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Daily Wire. Cotton said the bill would keep sentencing fair and the American public safe. 

“Criminals are criminals. Radical left judges shouldn’t be able to use ‘gender confusion’ as a reason to assign shorter sentences. My bill will keep Americans safer by ensuring all criminals are properly sentenced,” the Arkansas Republican told The Daily Wire. 

If passed, the bill would make sure that judges could not shorten a sentence over someone’s perceived gender identity. 

Cotton’s proposal comes after a Biden-appointed judge sentenced Nicholas Roske, the man who planned to assassinate Kavanaugh after the leak of a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, to just eight years in prison. The sentence was 22 years lighter than the 30-year minimum recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. 

The sentencing took more than seven hours, with much of the time dedicated to discussing how Roske’s transgender identity meant he should get a lighter sentence, The Daily Wire reported. 

Cotton also put forth new legislation to keep men and women in separate prisons, regardless of gender identity. 

“Prisoners should be placed based on their biological sex, not on what they chose to ‘identify’ as. Documented cases prove that placing men—including men who ‘identify’ as women—in women’s prisons puts female inmates at increased risk of sexual assault,” he told The Daily Wire. “My bill decreases the risk for women by ensuring men and women are separated in federal prison.”

Cotton’s ‘‘Preventing Violence Against Female Inmates Act of 2025’’ would prohibit housing prisoners of different sexes together and would block states from receiving grants if they put men in women’s prisons. 

The bill would codify executive action from Trump barring the Bureau of Prisons from housing men in women’s prisons. That order has been challenged by multiple transgender-identifying prisoners who claim the order violates their rights. 

In states where men have been placed with women in prison, women often fear for their own safety. In one example in California, a male double rapist was transferred to a female prison. The issue also came up during Roske’s sentencing, with the judge lamenting the fact that he would have to be housed in a male prison.