She let the man who tried to murder Brett Kavanaugh walk out with eight years.
Now she's handing citizenship to the children of MS-13 members.
And the Biden-appointed judge who let Kavanaugh’s would-be killer walk just blocked Donald Trump on birthright citizenship for the third time.
Same Judge, Same Playbook, Third Time Around
Deborah Boardman is a Biden appointee who was confirmed on a near party-line vote in June 2021.
Her résumé before the bench wasn't prosecuting criminals – it was defending them.
She spent a decade at the Federal Public Defender's Office in Maryland, including four years as first assistant federal public defender.
That background shows up in her rulings.
Last October, she sentenced Nicholas Roske – the man who flew from California to Brett Kavanaugh's home with a gun, knife, and pepper spray to murder a Supreme Court justice – to just eight years.
Federal prosecutors asked for 30.
She reportedly considered Roske's transgender status and worried about him serving time in a male prison.
https://twitter.com/LadyQNews/status/2095874621824278896?s=20
Rep. Chip Roy introduced impeachment articles.
AG Pam Bondi called the sentence "woefully insufficient" and announced the Justice Department would appeal.
Now Boardman has turned her attention back to immigration – and Trump.
What Trump Actually Ordered
After the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in June reaffirmed birthright citizenship, Trump's legal team came back with a narrower executive order targeting three specific categories.
Children born to parents designated as alien enemies – MS-13 members and Tren de Aragua members chief among them.
Children born to foreign government employees.
Children whose parents paid for birth tourism schemes.
This isn't Trump ignoring the Supreme Court.
The Court's own ruling acknowledged historical exceptions to birthright citizenship – including children born during hostile enemy occupation of U.S. soil.
Stephen Miller argued publicly that members of designated terrorist organizations fall under that exception.
National Review called the new orders "more modestly and carefully crafted" than the original and noted they "bear the hallmarks of lawyers having given real thought to existing precedents."
https://twitter.com/foxnewspolitics/status/2095610820239745175?s=20
Boardman blocked it anyway.
She ruled it "almost certainly unconstitutional" – despite the Supreme Court never having addressed the alien enemy exception directly.
Former Justice Department official Abhi Kambli told Fox News that the ruling overreached.
The lawsuit was a facial challenge – meaning plaintiffs had to prove the order was unconstitutional in every possible application, not just edge cases.
Kambli said Boardman accepted speculation about how the administration might get it wrong in future cases and used that speculation to kill the entire executive order.
That's not judging the law.
That's deciding the outcome and working backward.
A Pattern That Isn't Subtle Anymore
Boardman has now handed Trump three losses on birthright citizenship alone.
She gave eight years to a man who tried to assassinate a sitting Supreme Court justice.
She blocked Trump's original birthright citizenship order before the Supreme Court weighed in.
When the Court issued its ruling in Trump v. Barbara, it left specific exceptions unresolved – including the alien enemy question Trump just tried to test.
Boardman shut that down before any higher court could weigh in.
The White House didn't bother with diplomatic language after this one.
Lauren Bis, White House spokeswoman, called it the work of "an activist judge appointed by Biden attempting to thwart President Trump's commonsense agenda."
That's exactly what it is.
This ends at the Supreme Court, not in Boardman's courtroom.
The alien enemy exception is a legitimate constitutional question the Court has never answered – and Trump's team is forcing courts to address each remaining question one at a time.
Boardman blocking it at the district level is an inconvenience, not a verdict.
They already told Trump the roadmap exists.
Sources:
- Elaine Mallon, "White House rips 'activist' Biden judge who upended Trump birthright citizenship order," Fox News, September 3, 2026.
- Fred Lucas, "What to Know About Biden Judge Who Gave Lenient Sentence to Kavanaugh Assassination Plotter," The Daily Signal, October 7, 2025.
- "Chip Roy seeks impeachment of judge over light sentencing for trans, would-be Kavanaugh assassin," The Christian Post, October 2025.
- "Why Stephen Miller thinks orders limiting birthright citizenship will go differently this time," Washington Examiner, August 2026.
- Dan McLaughlin, "Trump's Latest Birthright Citizenship and Birth Tourism Orders Narrow the Dispute," National Review, August 2026.
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