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Republican Sen. Josh Hawley posted a lengthy Twitter thread Wednesday containing several examples that he says demonstrates an “alarming” pattern of lenient treatment of sex offenders who prey on children from Biden Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Judge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and as a policymaker,” the Missouri Republican tweeted Wednesday. “She’s been advocating for it since law school. This goes beyond ‘soft on crime.’ I’m concerned that this a record that endangers our children.”
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Biden announced Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court in the Cross Hall of the White House, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Hawley cited several writings from Jackson’s past dating back to her time in law school including a passage where she wrote that sex offender status can lead to “stigmatization and ostracism” and that public policy is driven by a “climate of fear, hatred & revenge” against sex offenders
“It gets worse,” Hawley wrote. “As a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Judge Jackson advocated for drastic change in how the law treats sex offenders by eliminating the existing mandatory minimum sentences for child porn.”
Hawley explained how during a February 2012 U.S. Sentencing Commission hearing, Jackson suggested to a witness that some child pornography offenders were possibly “less serious offenders” because they engaged in child pornography due to motivations that weren’t sexual but rather an attempt to be part of a group.
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“I guess my thought is…that there are people who get involved with this kind of activity who may not be pedophiles who may not be necessarily interested really in the child pornography but have other motivations with respect to the use of the technology and the being in the group and, you know, there are lots of reasons why people might engage in this,” Jackson said. “And so I’m wondering whether you could say that there is a — that there could be a less-serious child pornography offender who is engaging in the type of conduct in the group experience level because their motivation is the challenge, or to use the technology?”
Hawley added that Jackson “deviated from the federal sentencing guidelines in favor of child porn offenders” in “every case for which we can find records.”
“In the case of United States v. Hawkins, the sex offender had multiple images of child porn,” Hawley tweeted. “He was over 18. The Sentencing Guidelines called for a sentence of up to 10 years. Judge Jackson sentenced the perpetrator to only 3 months in prison. Three months.”
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Hawley cited several other examples including United States v. Sears and United States v. Savage where sex offenders convicted of child porn offenses received lenient sentences compared to federal sentencing guidelines.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 29: Sen. Josh Hawley, (R-MO) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine Texas’s abortion law on Capitol Hill on September 29, 2021 in Washington, DC.
( (Photo by Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images))
“This is a disturbing record for any judge, but especially one nominated to the highest court in the land,” Hawley tweeted. “Protecting the most vulnerable shouldn’t be up for debate. Sending child predators to jail shouldn’t be controversial.”
Hawley called on the Sentencing Commission, which he says has refused to hand over all of Jackson’s records, to provide access to all available records.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
Mike Davis, Founder and President of the Article III Project, told Fox News that “it’s pretty clear now why President Biden wants to hide Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record on the Sentencing Commission.”
“She will have to explain this disturbing pattern at her hearing, and if her explanation is insufficient, every Democrat who supports her nomination will have to explain their vote,” Davis said.
Biden nominated Jackson to the Supreme court in late February making good on a campaign promise to pick the first Black woman for the nation’s highest court.
Jackson, 51, is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a U.S. Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, poses for a portrait, Friday, Feb., 18, 2022, in her office at the court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court,” Biden wrote in a tweet confirming his pick. “Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice.”
Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report
