Sen. Dick Durbin on Wednesday declined to release pre-sentencing reports from several child pornography cases overseen by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
Information on Jackson’s record has become a subject of controversy during the hearings this week, as Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has alleged fellow GOP members on the committee received some sentencing information from the White House after some Democrats.
Booker said he was upset by the charge and agreed with Cruz because his own office did not receive the information until much later in the day.
On Wednesday, 10 Republicans on the committee signed a letter to Durbin requesting pre-sentencing reports from all of the child pornography cases Jackson oversaw. Cruz tried to interrupt the proceedings to submit the letter into the record but was denied by Durbin after a spat between the two earlier in the day. The letter was later submitted by Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Durbin said the reports contained sensitive information that could be “dangerous to the victims and to the innocent people who are mentioned in these reports and unnecessary at this point.”
Durbin called the request a “fishing expedition” and said it would not change anyone’s vote.
Sen. Ben Sasse was the only Republican on the committee who did not sign the letter. A spokesman for the Nebraska Republican told the Washington Post the documents constituted an “important process issue,” Sasse was focused on ascertaining Jackson’s judicial philosophy.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Republicans have alleged Jackson’s sentences in the cases were too lenient, while Jackson has argued she issued sentences within guidelines judges must consider by law.
