Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson enters her second day of questioning for her Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing where she defended her sentencing in child porn cases amid fierce Republican questioning.
GOP members have been quick to portray United States President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee as being weak on crime by focusing on her previous defense work. Republican lawmakers have raised concerns over Jackson's judicial philosophy while they warned against activism and prescription of policy outcomes from the bench.
Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing
The nominee addressed and disputed the criticisms on Tuesday by stressing her concern for public safety and the rule of law, both as a judge and a United States citizen. Jackson argued that her approach to work was impartial and that she did not allow personal opinions to influence her decisions.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, pressed Jackson, who then sidestepped a question related to whether or not she supported the expansion of the Supreme Court to include more than nine justices at any given time.
Jackson said that it was not a decision for her to make but was a responsibility of Congress, saying that she was particularly mindful of not speaking to policy issues. She said that she was committed to staying in her "lane," as per CNN.
The Supreme Court nominee also forcefully defended her record of sentencing child pornography offenders and pushed back against a recurring Republican attack line. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley claimed that Jackson's treatment of sentencing child sex offenders showed an "alarming pattern" of leniency.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin questioned the nominee about her stance on the issue where she answered that in dealing with such cases, she was far from lenient. Jackson said that working as a judge, she placed great weight on victims' perspectives when addressing offenders.
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According to The Hill, on Tuesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was among the first few GOP senators on the panel, including Hawley and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who intend to make the issue one of the pivotal discussions in the questioning.
Child Porn Offenders Sentencing
Republicans have long used allegations of being soft on crime against Democrats' judicial nominees and candidates and have been going on since at least the Nixon era, said political scientists.
A Howard University law professor, Justin Hansford, who is also the executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, said that the strategy was part of a strain of criticism that Black public servants especially have come to expect from GOP members. He compared it to a dog whistle that is played to a specific audience.
Marshall, who is the country's first Black Supreme Court justice, faced off against similar language during his confirmation hearing nearly six decades ago. At the time, a group of fervently segregationist senators attempted to stir fear over clashes between civil rights protesters and the police.
On the other hand, a Harvard law professor who clerked for Marshall, Mark Victory Tushnet, believes that the attacks against Jackson now have been far less veiled than those of the old justice, the New York Times reported.
