Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, has a soft spot for child predators
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is Joe Biden's nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer when he leaves the Supreme Court. Biden selected her because she's a Black woman. He might wish he'd vetted her better than that. It turns out that Jackson, like so many leftists, has a completely unwholesome interest in children and sex. In Jackson's case, this takes the form of desperately trying to lessen sentences for pedophiles and child pornographers.
I must admit that when I first heard that Jackson was campaigning against excessive penalties for people convicted of pedophile-type crimes, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. There have been cases in which overzealous prosecutors have abused statutory rape laws.
There was an infamous case in Texas many years ago (that I can't find online right now) that saw a young man prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law because he and his girlfriend were almost the same age, but he continued to have sex with her after he turned 18. (Many states now have exceptions to statutory rape for people close in age.) The laws may also be applied unequally depending on whether the older person is male or female.
Image: Ketanji Brown Jackson (cropped) by Innisfree987. CC BY-SA 4.0.
However, Jackson isn’t interested in these marginal cases. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) did some digging into Jackson's records and discovered that she seeks blanket relief for hardcore pedophiles and child pornographers:
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. 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
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
Judge Jackson has also questioned sending dangerous sex offenders to civil commitment. We have a civil commitment law in Missouri, and it protects children
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
(A civil commitment allows courts to order people to be admitted to a treatment facility to protect themselves or others without proof of a specific crime but with a due process proceeding assessing their risk factors.) Some people — me, for instance — think adults who want to have sex with children should be stigmatized. As every parent knows, children are exquisitely vulnerable. We prepare the way for them to have a good life by protecting them from early sexual activity to allow them to become secure adults who can make choices that will serve them well moving into the future.
Judge Jackson has said that some people who possess child porn “are in this for either the collection, or the people who are loners and find status in their participation in the community.” What community would that be? The community of child exploiters? pic.twitter.com/JDxqf9Q1AH
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
At this point, Jackson's meshing too closely with those people who wish to normalize pedophilia.
In her time on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Judge Jackson said she “mistakingly assumed that child pornography offenders are pedophiles” and she wanted “to understand this category of nonpedophiles who obtain child pornography.” pic.twitter.com/ZM16VAqpLo
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
In the case of United States v. Hawkins, the sex offender had multiple images of child porn. 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.
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
Keep in mind that long sentences aren't just to punish the guilty. They are also intended to deter those who might contemplate engaging in the same behavior.
In United States v. Cooper, in which the criminal had more than 600 images and videos and posted many on a public blog, the Guidelines called for a sentence of 151-188 months. Judge Jackson settled on 60 months, the lowest possible sentence allowed by law.
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
In United States v. Downs, the perp posted multiple images to an anonymous instant messaging app, including an image of a child under the age of 5. The Guidelines recommended 70-87 months. Judge Jackson gave him the lowest sentence allowed by law, 60 months
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
In United States v. Savage, the sex offender was convicted of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and also admitted to transporting child porn. The Guidelines recommended 46-57 months. Judge Jackson gave him 37.
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
So far, the Sentencing Commission has refused to turn over all Judge Jackson’s records from her time there. In light of what we have learned, this stonewalling must end. We must get access to all relevant records
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022
On the one hand, Jackson's obsession with child pornography is weird. On the other hand, her views are entirely consistent with leftist views generally. Going back at least as far as the 1960s, leftists have sought to sexualize children.
They do so partly for their own sick pleasure and partly because they understand that there is no better way to teach a child to be subordinate than to deny that child agency over his own body. Whether the child is denied the evidence of his own eyes about biological sex or the child is told to start masturbating as soon as possible, adults are denying the child the right to determine who he is in nonsexual terms and to relate to the world without the mediating influence of sex.
While Jackson wraps her disturbing concern with child pornographers in the language of law and scholarship, she really is no better than the people in these videos, whether it's a gender clinic in Portland, Oregon talking about teaching little boys to "tuck" (or hide away) their genitals, a middle school pushing kids toward the joys of masturbation, or these teachers obsessively pushing their sexual issues in the kids' faces. It's all very, very wrong:
This is who’s teaching young kids. Despicable pic.twitter.com/B5Po7tmOfw
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) January 26, 2022
The schools are obsessed with sexualizing and grooming kids pic.twitter.com/AFYxIo9Ci7
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 16, 2022
This is who’s teaching young kids. Despicable pic.twitter.com/B5Po7tmOfw
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) January 26, 2022
4th grade California teacher films herself coming out as trans to her students: pic.twitter.com/y88ri738bL
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 17, 2022
4th grade California teacher films herself coming out as trans to her students: pic.twitter.com/y88ri738bL
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 17, 2022
There is hope, though, because Mitch McConnell, whatever else you may think of him, is a wily old bird. In the power-sharing agreement he reached with Chuck Schumer in January 2020, the Senate Judiciary Committee has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. If the Republicans hang together and vote a nominee down, that nomination dies in committee. You can look at the list of Republican senators and decide for yourself whether you think the Republicans can and will hang together. I have my doubts.