2 years ago
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Wednesday faces a second day of questioning from Senate Judiciary Committee members considering her confirmation to the nation's highest court. Already, Republican committee members have reprised their lines of attack against Jackson, questioning her sentencing in child pornography cases and probing how she might rule on cases involving abortion and Second Amendment rights.
Here are the key moments from Jackson's second day of Q&A with senators on Capitol Hill:
Graham fumes over child pornography rulings
Tensions flared while Sen. Lindsay Graham questioned Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson about her past rulings in child pornography cases Wednesday.
An increasingly animated Graham (R-S.C.) asked the Supreme Court nominee about the best forms of deterrence and punishment for those involved in child pornography, a repeated questioning topic for Republicans during the three-day confirmation hearings.
“Do you think it's a bigger deterrent to take somebody who's on a computer, looking at sexual images of children in the most disgusting way, is to supervise their computer habits versus putting them in jail?” Graham asked.
“No, Senator, I didn’t say ‘versus,’” Jackson said.
“No, that’s exactly what you said,” Graham interrupted. The best way to deter these criminals is “to put their ass in jail, not supervise their computer usage,” he said.
Graham repeatedly interrupted Jackson while she attempted to answer his questions, causing Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to repeatedly intervene, saying, “Senator, would you let her respond?”
Tillis gets dicey in questioning of Jackson
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson corrected Sen. Thom Tillis on Wednesday after he misrepresented her decision in a 2020 ruling.
Tillis (R-N.C.), the last GOP lawmaker to question Jackson during the first round of her Senate Judiciary Hearing, asked her Wednesday about United States v. Wiggins, in which she declined to grant an inmate early release amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Tillis's questioning suggested that he believed Jackson supported release for the inmate and the senator interrupted the Supreme Court nominee multiple times as she attempted to explain.
“How can I not read this to say that perhaps they should be released, irrespective of the crime for which they've been charged?” Tillis asked.
“Senator, if you read two more sentences down, that is precisely what I focused on,” Jackson responded.
Also during his 30 minutes of initial questioning, Tillis spoke of an “ecosystem” of activist groups that want to expand the Supreme Court, and asked Jackson if she’d had any interaction with these groups. She said she had not.
“I actually hope that you can, at some point, study the issue thoroughly and understand the risk to this institution that you're likely to be confirmed to,” Tillis said. “It's serious. And you could end up being there. You'll have a lifetime appointment. You could actually be there and witness its demise real time if we allow the court to be packed.”
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