Sen. Lindsey Graham and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court, sparred over her sentencing practices for child pornography offenses during her third day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The South Carolina Republican, who has a background as a trial lawyer, routinely interrupted Jackson during his time for questioning on Wednesday. After Graham’s time expired, Jackson said she wanted to reply to an earlier point about her sentencing in the cases, which has become a subject of controversy in the hearing. Republicans argued her sentences in the cases were lenient, while Jackson and Democrats on the committee argued they were within legal norms.
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Jackson said there is a difference in sentencing for cases depending on whether illegal images are distributed via mail or the internet, arguing that the length of time spent on a crime is a factor in punishment, in addition to the range of the crime.
“You can be doing this for 15 minutes, and all of a sudden, you are looking at 30, 40, 50 years in prison,” Jackson said during a point about cases concerning use of the internet.
“Good!” Graham interjected. “Good. Absolutely good. So you don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think that’s a horrible thing.”
Graham asked Jackson if she doesn’t think such offenders should go to jail for 50 years.
Jackson said she was trying to illustrate that the criminal sentencing system is “a rational one.”
“It’s a system that is designed to help judges do justice in these terrible circumstances by eliminating unwarranted disparities by ensuring that the most serious defendants get the longest periods of time,” she said.
Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the committee, said it is the role of Congress to address the sentencing guidelines, not judges.
“This is our fault?” Graham asked incredulously.
“Partially, it is, to be honest with you. It is. We have to upgrade these guidelines,” Durbin said.
In offering to address earlier points from the questioning, Jackson extended her exchange with Graham for nearly 10 minutes, a move nominees are often discouraged from doing with senators who are not seen as likely to support their confirmation.
During Graham’s questioning, Jackson said computer supervision is a component of sentencing in such cases. Graham asked Jackson if she thought that was more of a deterrent than jail time.
“I think the best way to deter people from getting on a computer and viewing thousands and hundreds, and over time, maybe millions, the population as a whole, of children being exploited and abused every time somebody clicks on, is to put their a** in jail,” Graham said. “Not supervise their computer usage.”
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Jackson said she does not view the two as mutually exclusive, arguing she didn’t see the sentences as one “versus” the other.
