Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson defended her sentencing record in child pornography cases as a district court judge and her representation of Guantánamo detainees as a federal public defender at the outset of her second day of confirmation hearings for a seat on the Supreme Court. Democrats used their early questions to give Jackson a chance to respond to Republican accusations that she has been soft on crime.
“I understand how significant, how damaging, how horrible this crime is,” Jackson said in response to a question from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) on sentencing in child pornography cases. Jackson also told senators that public defenders do not get to pick their clients.
Jackson fielded a wide array of questions from Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), the first two Republicans to ask questions. Graham used part of his time to press Jackson on her views about policy matters affecting detainees at Guantánamo Bay.
When asked by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) what she’d say to critics who say she’s “soft on crime” and “anti-law enforcement,” Jackson said crime is not abstract for her.
“I know what it’s like to have loved ones who go off to protect and to serve, and the fear of not knowing whether [they will] come home again because of crime,” she said. “So crime and the effects on the community and the need for law enforcement — those are not abstract concepts or political slogans...
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