Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday objected to Sen. Josh Hawley’s proposed legislation seeking tougher sentences for child pornography offenders, asking, “Why now?” as senators prepare for a confirmation vote later this week over Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“I know why. He said as much,” Durbin said. “This senator has suggested over the course of the last two weeks and hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee that somehow this judge … aspiring to the Supreme Court is out of the mainstream when it comes to sentencing in child pornography cases.”
Durbin’s sharp response came after Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri, requested unanimous consent over his PROTECT Act of 2022, legislation he introduced last week to set five-year mandatory minimum sentences for child pornography offenders. The legislation was modeled after a similar bill that passed 84-0 in 2003.
JACKSON NOMINATION MOVES TO FULL SENATE AS THREE REPUBLICANS LEND SUPPORT
Senator Dick Durbin is objecting to Senator @HawleyMO‘s legislation seeking to toughen sentences for child porn offenders:
“These guidelines…don’t reflect the reality of today…we now live in a world of internet and access to…thousands of images, if that is your decision.” pic.twitter.com/cWovwxPm52
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 5, 2022
Hawley’s proposal on Tuesday followed The upper chamber’s 53-47 vote to discharge Jackson’s nomination from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which deadlocked 11-11 on Monday, sending her nomination to the Senate floor. Three Republicans crossed over that evening to lend Jackson support for the voting: Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine.
The Missouri senator has used his role on the committee to question Jackson’s sentencing record of child pornography offenders, adding on Tuesday that her record is “startling” in comparison to the national average sentence given to those in possession or distributing child pornography.
“We now know that the national average for possession of child pornography, the national sentence imposed, on average, is 68 months. Judge Jackson’s average, 29.3 months,” Hawley said. “The national average sentence for distribution of child pornography, 135 months. Judge Jackson’s average, 71.9 months.”
During her committee hearings, Jackson recalled a 2003 Supreme Court ruling, United States v. Booker, signed by then-Justice Antonin Scalia, which determined that the guidelines that Congress wanted to be mandatory would be made advisory and ultimately up to a judge’s discretion.
Durbin also referenced Booker on Tuesday, saying, “We know that in 2005, that decision was handed down. We know in 2012, the Sentencing Commission said to Congress and to the world, you need to do something here. These guidelines that you promulgated don’t reflect the reality of today,” the Illinois Democrat added.
“The subject of this seriousness, this gravity, deserves more than a drive-by on the floor of the United States Senate,” Durbin said. “I invite my colleague to do his work on this issue as we all share the work that is required.”
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Durbin also hit out at Hawley’s endorsement of Missouri Judge Sarah Pitlyk, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and shares a similar sentencing record as Jackson.
“And it’s interesting to me how the senator of Missouri has carefully drawn lines to exclude Trump appointees to the bench who’ve done exactly what this judge has done as well, so-called deviate from the guidelines when it came to sentencing,” Durbin said in defense of Jackson.
