This past Tuesday as part of the hearings, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) utilized a whiteboard to display his evidence that highlights the record of Biden-picked Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson in regards to sentencing child porn offenders, which has come under fire various Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley. (MO)
“Ted Cruz pulls out his white board to illustrate how in child pornography cases, Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the defendants an average 47.2% less sentence than what the prosecutors recommended,” stated Greg Price, a digital strategist, about a clip of the intense exchange on social media platforms.
Cruz highlighted the cases where Jackson slated a significantly lighter sentence to the convicts than what both the state and the prosecutors were asking for.
In one particular case, the judge issued a sentence of only 28 months when a prosecutor was seeking a total of 79-97 months, which Cruz made sure to highlight was a roughly 64% drop in the recommendation. In another case, a prosecutor asked for 2 years and Jackson only issued a three-month total sentence, which equates to an 88% reduction in the amount of time recommended.
Cruz went on to highlight another four cases where Jackson issued a bevy of sentences that were severely lighter than what the prosecutors were asking for, which in total came out to average a roughly 47.2% drop in sentences.
“Every single case, 100% of them, when prosecutors came before you with child pornography cases, you sentenced the defenders to substantially below, not just the guidelines, which are way higher, but what the prosecutor asked for, on average, of these cases, 47.2% less.”
Ted Cruz pulls out his white board to illustrate how in child pornography cases, Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the defendants an average 47.2% less sentence than what the prosecutors recommended. pic.twitter.com/7VUnbdAg2E
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 22, 2022
“A couple of observations,” stated Jackson. “One, is that your chart does not include all of the factors that Congress has told judges to consider, including probation offices’ recommendations in these cases.”
“The committee has not been given the probation offices’ recommendations,” Cruz stated to Jackson. “I would love to see those, we don’t have access to them.”
“I take these cases very seriously,” stated Jackson. “As a mother, as someone who, as a judge has to review the actual evidence in these cases, and based on Congress’ requirement, take into account, not only the sentencing guidelines, not only the recommendations of the parties, but also things like, the stories of the victims, also things like, the nature and circumstances of the events and the history and characteristics of the defendant.”
“Congress is the body that tells sentencing judges what they are supposed to look at,” she continued. “And, Congress has said, that the judge is not playing a numbers game. The judge is looking at all these different factors and making a determination in every case, based on a number of considerations. In every case, I did my duty to hold the defendants accountable in light of the evidence and the information that was presented to me.”
“In 100% of the cases, was the evidence less than the prosecutors asked for?” Cruz went on to ask.
“Judges have to take into account the personal circumstances of the defendant, because that’s a requirement of Congress,” Jackson answered, going on to add that she has to “consider things like the victims,” too.
“Well, that does not show victims being heard, with all due respect,” Cruz stated in response.
Various Left-leaning sites such as The New York Times have called out these Republican statements against Jackson’s record on child porn cases “misleading.”