During the first two days of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Ted Cruz (R.TX) exposed the flaws in Judge Jackson's responses. However, Jackson also ran into problems when she was asked to explain why she had imposed such mild sentences on child-porn addicts.
Here's one of the troubling answers she offered on Monday. She suggested that the reason she might have opted to go lighter on some sentences was that she felt the guidelines on sentencing were out of date or did not keep up with the evolving nature of the internet. According to her, it is not her responsibility to change the sentencing guidelines through force.
Senator Josh Hawley (R.MO) was particularly interested in her thoughts on the issue. He stated that the sentencing guidelines stipulated 10 years, but she had chosen three months. A video was quite alarming to some, with Hawley pressing Jackson on whether she viewed the 18-year-old defendant featured as the “peer” of the young children depicted.
To many, her responses seemed insufficient, especially given how leniently she had dealt with criminals. However, according to the White House, this was not the case. The White House must have thought that the GOP approach to asking questions could be negatively affecting the acceptance of its nominee, because they released a statement trying to defend her on Tuesday. It indicated that the GOP’s handling of the process was a negative approach! White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates attacked Senator Hawley by declaring that the concern over Jackson’s sloppy sentences is an “embarrassing, QAnon-signaling smear.”
You could debate the content of her sentences and argue back and forth on whether they were lax or not. What you can't debate is that Bates has distorted, with this type of reaction, genuine child-porn convictions. Is that an effective strategy for the vast majority of Americans, who believe that child pornography is a serious crime? Does he really think it's a good idea to support lax sentences? Biden is already being slammed at the polls by Americans who believe he's not tough on crime, and Biden's White House just added more fuel to the fire with this absurd declaration.
The White House put out this stupid idea, but they must have also distributed the talking points, since the story is now being retold in media outlets, including CNN and MSNBC, with celebrities pushing the narrative.
The only person to have a real grasp of this issue: CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was able to explain the legalities. Perhaps not the most ideal person in this situation? How is his status being featured on CNN?
For all the ignorant folks: Americans don't care about your tales, but they realize the child-porn industry is not a good thing. They see only your sloppy sentences. It's not a great image. Do you get your feet in the way more often than Joe Biden?
