Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has passionately defended her history of sentencing child pornography offenders as Chief Justice Dick Durbin gave the Supreme Court nominee a chance to respond to Republican criticism by saying she is being too soft on the crimes.
The Democratic senator from Illinois supported Jackson’s defense, allowing her to address the child pornography cases, as well as her judicial philosophy and issue with the court.
Jackson has made no commitment as to where she fell on the issue of adding seats to the Supreme Court, which is widely opposed by Republicans. The candidate said she agreed with Conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett that candidates should not be split on political issues, especially at the candidate level.
“I do not import my personal views or political preferences,” she assured.
Durbin said at the start of the second day of Jackson’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday, “The issue of child pornography — I want to address this issue because it’s been brought up many times in the first place by the Senator from Missouri, and he’s been questioning your verdict in cases child pornography.”
He asked Jackson how she felt knowing that her children, husband and the world had heard Republican Senator Josh Hawley accuse her of putting children in danger by sentencing child pornography criminals.
“As a mother and a judge who has had to deal with these cases, I thought nothing could be further from the truth,” Jackson replied.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson passionately defended her record of sentencing child porn offenders in the second day of her confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the first day of the 22-member questioning, Jackson said she would not say whether she supported the levy. “I do not import my personal views or political preferences,” she assured.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley issued an opening statement Monday criticizing Jackson’s sentencing of child porn offenders. The Missouri senator arrived for the second day of Tuesday’s hearing, where he is expected to criticize Jackson on the subject.
“These are some of the toughest cases that a judge has to deal with because we are talking about child sexual abuse photographs, we are talking about graphic descriptions that judges have to read and consider when they are deciding how to sentence. these cases,” she continued, passionately defending her trial record.
The otherwise calm and collected nominee displayed emotion and passion as she spoke on the topic, visibly trembling at some points, using stronger hand movements than in other responses, and phrasing her words more fervently.
“These people are expecting 20, 30, 40 years of supervision,” she said of the offenders. “They haven’t been able to use their computers properly for decades. I impose all these restrictions because I understand how significant, how destructive, how terrible this crime is.
“I am making a serious judgment,” Jackson said, but said she, as a judge, is limited by what Congress says judges can do with cases.
She also said that, as a judge, she is limited by what Congress decides judges can do with cases.
“There is a law that tells judges what they should do,” she clarified. “Congress has decided what a judge should do when he passes judgment in this and every other case.”
“And this law does not say: “look only at the instructions and stop”, the law does not say: “impose the maximum possible punishment for this heinous and egregious crime.” The law says: calculate guidelines, but also consider the various aspects of this crime and impose a punishment that is “sufficient, but no more than necessary to achieve the objectives of the punishment”.
She also said that child pornography sentencing cases are outdated because they date back to before the Internet and were based on the number of images perpetrators received in the mail.
Jackson said the sentencing guide structure “doesn’t do the job of differentiating who is the more serious offender, as it used to be.”
Jackson arrived at the Capitol Tuesday morning for her first day of questioning members of the Senate Judiciary Committee when a new poll emerged showing large numbers of Americans are not interested in the nomination and don’t care if it is confirmed or not.
Of the 2,005 registered voters polled in a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday, 34 percent don’t care or have any opinion about whether Jackson will be confirmed to replace Justice Stephen Breuer on the Supreme Court.
It remains to be seen if that view will change after candidates posed questions to senators on the first day, especially as the GOP is signaling they may have some aggressive lines of attack, including on Jackson’s track record of sentencing senators. child pornography.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson arrived at the Capitol for a second day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Republicans and independent voters are very indifferent to whether Jackson will be confirmed in the Supreme Court: 41% and 43% have no opinion about her nomination, respectively.
Seventy-five percent of self-described Democrats want Jackson to be the first black woman on the United States Supreme Court. Instead of other Democrats actually opposing Jackson, 20 percent are indifferent to her claim, while only 5 percent of Democrats oppose it.
Only 23 percent of Republican voters want President Joe Biden’s candidacy to be confirmed.
Surprisingly, however, 41 percent of Republicans don’t know if they want it to go to the highest court, and 43 percent of independents think the same.
This may signal that Jackson is a “safe” candidate, as instead of opposition from Republicans and independents, she is met with smugness. It seems like an odd place for the first black woman to be nominated for the Supreme Court.
The numbers from the recent poll, which was conducted March 18-21, are similar to those for February, as voters are more distracted by economic issues such as inflation and gas prices than the Supreme Court candidate.
Biden’s nominee on Tuesday will face the first day of questioning by the commission, which will last until Wednesday.
On the first day of Monday’s hearing, Jackson and all 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee delivered opening statements.
Jackson, 51, has vowed to be an independent lawyer on the Supreme Court, ruling cases “without fear or favor” and emphasizing court neutrality as a way to preemptively fend off Republican criticism in the coming days.
“I know that my role as a judge is limited—that the Constitution authorizes me to decide only those cases and disputes that are properly presented,” Jackson said. “And I know that my judicial role is even more limited by the scrupulous observance of precedent.”
Jackson has served as a federal appeals judge since last year after serving as a federal district court judge for eight years.
She noted that her parents grew up in an era of racial segregation in the South, but said they taught her: “If I work hard and believe in myself, in America I can do whatever I want or be anyone.”
Biden promised during his 2020 candidacy that he would nominate a black woman if he had the opportunity, which Republicans criticized as a way to limit the pool of qualified candidates.
If confirmed, it would be the first time four women and two black referees have been on the bench.
Jackson will become the 116th high court judge in over 200 years, only the third black person and the first black woman.
Jackson had her first day of confirmation hearings before the Judiciary Committee on Monday and made history by appearing before the panel as the first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court.
In a 50-50 Senate, Democrats don’t need Republican support to put Jackson on the Supreme Court, as Vice President Kamala Harris would cast any casting vote.
But Democrats are hoping for a more bipartisan approach and are concerned that if even one of the Democrats backs out, it could thwart Jackson’s confirmation — an unlikely outcome at this stage.
After full days of interrogations on Tuesday and Wednesday, outside experts will testify about Jackson’s legal status and his theory before a panel on Thursday.
Democrats hope to confirm Jackson by April 8, before two weeks of spring break.
During opening statements Monday, Democrats hailed Biden’s historic selection and praised Jackson’s track record as a federal appeals and district court judge.
Some Republicans promised respect and praised Jackson’s qualifications, but others criticized her track record and tried to link her to left-wing advocacy groups. Others tried to portray her as “soft on crime”.
“I can only wonder: what are your hidden agendas?” asked Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. “To unleash violent criminals, cop killers, and kidnappers on the streets?”
Judicial Branch Chairman Dick Durbin said the attacks on Jackson’s approach to criminal justice issues were unfounded and said it was part of the Republican campaign theme for the November midterm elections.
Durbin, a Democrat, noted that law enforcement, including the Fraternal Police Order, backed Jackson’s candidacy.
The Senate has already confirmed Jackson to three other positions, most recently last year when Biden nominated her to the D.C. Court of Appeals.
Jackson grew up in Miami and was educated at Harvard. She was the clerk for Judge Breuer, whom she will replace when he announced his retirement earlier this year.
Her approval would not change the ideological balance in the Supreme Court, but would lower the median age and bring fresh liberal views to the court.
The 6-3 conservative majority includes three judges nominated by Biden’s Republican predecessor Donald Trump.