‘No Evidence’ Supporting GOP Criticism Of Supreme Court Nominee, Bar Association Says

Topline

Evaluators at the American Bar Association refuted Republican senators’ allegations that Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson had been lenient toward child pornography offenders, saying Thursday during her Senate confirmation hearing there’s “no evidence” to support the claims, as they emphasized how well qualified she is to serve on the court.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her confirmation hearing … [+] before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 22 in Washington, DC.

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Key Facts

Representatives from the ABA’s standing committee testified to senators about the “well qualified” rating Jackson unanimously received from the ABA, which was based on a thorough review of her background, including interviews with 250 legal professionals who have worked with her.

On Wednesday, Republicans suggested that Jackson was overly lenient in her sentencing of child pornography offenders, but the ABA representative said there was “no evidence” to support those claims.

Ann Claire Williams, president of the ABA’s standing committee, said concerns about her record “never came up in any of the interviews we conducted,” and evaluator Joseph Drayton said no one who worked with Jackson in those cases “felt that she demonstrated bias in any way.”

A prosecutor who appeared before Jackson said they “do not observe any bias” and believe she’s “fair to all sides,” Drayton said.

The ABA officials also said there was no evidence “whatsoever” behind Republicans’ claims Jackson is “soft on crime.”

Crucial Quote

Williams said in her opening statement the ABA committee heard widespread praise in its review of Jackson—with legal professionals praising her as “strikingly talented,” “brilliant,” “humble” and a “consensus builder”—saying the review led the committee to ask, “How does one human being do so much so extraordinarily well?”

Tangent

The ABA’s opposition to the GOP accusations is in line with other legal experts who have forcefully refuted the charges that Jackson has been too lenient, including federal sentencing experts, retired judges and conservative commentators.

Chief Critic

Republicans continued to criticize Jackson’s record Thursday after the ABA’s testimony. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) posed questions about her child pornography sentences to GOP-called witnesses including Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Alessandra Serano of Operation Underground Railroad, an anti-sex trafficking group that has been linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory. (It has denied any involvement with QAnon and said the organization does not “condone child trafficking conspiracy theories.) “I wish that Judge Jackson shared your perspective,” Hawley told Marshall, after the AG said the “court is the ultimate voice” on child pornography cases and has to bring “justice” for its victims.

Key Background

Jackson is being considered to fill the Supreme Court seat being vacated when Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of this term, and would be the first Black woman on the court if confirmed. She serves as a federal appeals judge at the D.C. Circuit Court, and has previously served as a federal district judge, public defender and on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Republicans ramped up their criticism of Jackson ahead of her Senate hearing this week and repeatedly took aim at her child pornography sentences during senators’ two days of questioning—asking her about the question so repeatedly that Jackson eventually told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) she “regret[s] … that in a hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we have spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences.” The judge repeatedly defended her record, saying she took a variety of factors into account during her sentences, emphasized the toll the crime takes on its underage victims and believes the crime is “sickening and egregious.”