Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri on Thursday doubled down on his attack against Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, targeting her record in sex offense cases.
Hawley had posted several tweets on Wednesday accusing Jackson, who was chosen to fulfill President Joe Bidenâs pledge to nominate a black woman to the court, of showing leniency to sex offenders during her time as a judge.
âJudge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and as a policymaker. Sheâs been advocating for it since law school. This goes beyond âsoft on crime.â Iâm concerned that this a record that endangers our children,â Hawley tweeted as part of a series of comments.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a Thursday media briefing that Republicans were disseminating âfaulty accusationsâ by citing Jacksonâs record and that Hawley had taken some of the judgeâs comments out of context.
Hawley appeared on the Fox News show âHannityâ to explain his concerns.
He said in researching Jacksonâs record he found âa pattern of treating sex offenders leniently.â
âI think we just have a basic question to ask: Are we going to get a judge here whoâs going to protect children or whoâs going to protect child predators?â he said.
âItâs a simple question. Itâs one I think that every parent in America would like answered. But itâs one that the White House doesnât want to answer, and so far Judge Jackson doesnât want to answer it. Total radio silence from her,â Hawley said.
âIf you look at her record, what you see is this is someone who has consistently let sex predators, child sex predators, off the hook. For people who have been convicted of child porn offenses, sheâs consistently given them lenient sentences, slaps on the wrist,â he said.
Hawley said Jacksonâs entire body of thought appears skewed in favor of sex offenders.
âThis is someone who has raised the question whether sex offender registries are unconstitutional, whether notifying parents when thereâs a sex offender in the area is unconstitutional. She suggested all of that. I mean, this is very troubling. We need to get the answers,â he said.
âIf you look at what sheâs done as a judge on the bench, when she had the chance to put away child predators over and over again, when it comes to these child porn cases â these are pedophiles weâre talking about â she chose to give them the lightest sentence possible in case after case,â Hawley said.
âI havenât been able to find a single case where she has had a child porn offender, a pedophile, in front of her where she hasnât given him the most lenient sentence she possibly could.â
Hawley noted that when Jackson served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, âshe voted to get rid of the mandatory minimum sentences for child porn.â
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt that Jacksonâs record will be focused on during her confirmation hearings, according to Politico.
âHer supporters look at her resume and deduce a special empathy for criminals,â McConnell said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
