Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana grilled a judicial nominee Wednesday, asking if he was lying about whether he took “radical positions” on Black Lives Matter and illegal immigration in his writings.
President Joe Biden nominated Benjamin J. Cheeks, a criminal defense lawyer and United States Magistrate judge, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California on Oct. 23. Kennedy questioned Cheeks about his past writings about Black Lives Matter and illegal immigration during a confirmation hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I see you’re quite a prolific writer and … you said you don’t — you don’t take a position in these articles,” Kennedy told Cheeks, who responded, “I said I tried not to take a position in most of my articles.”
Kennedy then reviewed articles by Cheeks, including one involving the death of George Floyd, and another involving police and one on illegal immigration after he noted Cheeks earlier told Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois he tried not to take positions on controversial issues.
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“Well I want to read you from your article. Quote — your words, not mine — ‘Needless to say I have a guarded opinion about the police. How do I teach my sons to respect them and fear them at the same time? There can be no question that police officers have some of these same internal or external biases,’” Kennedy said. “Let me repeat that. There can be no question that police officers, not some police, all police officers have some of these same internal or external biases described above. Do some of them view black males differently than others? I think so. Sounds like a position to me. Do some think black males are more dangerous than others? I think so. Did I read that correctly?”
Cheeks acknowledged Kennedy had, and Kennedy moved to an article Cheeks wrote in 2018 on illegal immigration.
“OK. And you were talking about it was then under President Trump, not President Biden, the Department of Justice then had a zero tolerance for illegal entry into the United States, because that of course is the law. And this is what you said about that,” Kennedy said. “Quote, ‘Technically the law was broken, but these particular defendants, poor, hungry, hard-working and not dangerous, deserve a pass from prosecution,’ end quote. Saying that illegal immigration should not be criminalized as a position, is it not?”
“It is. What I’d like to add is that those — everything that I wrote, I wrote while I was an advocate, not a sitting judge,” Cheeks responded, claiming he no longer advocated because he was a “sitting magistrate judge.”
Kennedy pressed Cheeks further on his writings.
“OK. So you’re — so — so you — you don’t tell the truth when you’re an advocate, but you do when you’re not? Is it OK to lie if you’re an advocate?” Kennedy asked Cheeks, who claimed he didn’t understand Kennedy’s question.
“I think it’s pretty clear and I think you follow it,” Kennedy responded. “You’ve taken a lot of radical positions judge and you can’t make this cat walk backwards. Now you can’t make this cat walk backwards.”
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