During the second day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson justified handing down light sentences for child pornographers depending on whether they obtained images on the internet or through the mail.
In a number of cases, Jackson imposed sentences not only below federal guidelines, but well below what prosecutors asked for.
Sen. @tedcruz calculates exactly how lenient Judge Jackson has been on child pornography offenders:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 22, 2022
"Do you believe the voice of the children is heard when 100% of the time you're sentencing those in possession of child pornography to far below what the prosecutor's asking for?" pic.twitter.com/t6c1gWN8hG
In a back and forth on day three, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham cornered Jackson on the issue. He passionately explained child pornographers using the internet should be sentenced just as harshly as those who get images through the mail. Jackson responded by arguing those who download tens-of-thousands of images on the internet should be given leniency and that the law is outdated.
Judge Jackson: "In comes the internet...with one click you can receive, you can distribute tens of thousands. You can be doing this for 15 minutes and all of a sudden, you are looking at 30, 40, 50 years in prison."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 23, 2022
Graham: "Good! Good! Absolutely! Good!" pic.twitter.com/iiuxnNu2NE
Judge Jackson: We should "be rational" with people who have received or distributed "thousands of images" of child pornography. pic.twitter.com/qLz8MreMQT
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 23, 2022
Graham also pointed out harsh sentencing for these crimes is necessary to deter future offenders.
GRAHAM: "The best way to deter people from getting on a computer and viewing thousands and hundreds...of children being exploited and abused...is to put their ass in jail, not supervise their computer usage!" pic.twitter.com/xuDTkUY587
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 23, 2022