- New details from court transcripts reveal details from Jackson’s sentencing
- At issue are eight out of 14 child sex crime cases that came before Jackson
- Republicans have seized on them claiming that she is lenient on sex offenders
- Jackson’s confirmation seems assured with support of at least one GOP senator
Newly revealed transcripts have shed light on controversial child pornography sentences handed down by Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her time as a US district judge.
At issue are eight child porn cases that Jackson oversaw as a DC district judge between 2013 and 2021, which Senate Republicans seized on in recent hearings to paint the nominee as soft on sex offenders.
The transcripts, described by the New York Post in a report on Saturday, show that Jackson disregarded prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations even in some cases involving sickening abuse images of ‘infants and toddlers’ and in one case apologized to the defendant for handing down prison time.
Jackson in recent hearings said that she had overseen at least 14 cases involving sex offenses against children, and Democrats accuse the GOP of cherry-picking cases to falsely portray President Joe Biden‘s nominee as soft on pedophiles.
The most infamous of the eight cases in question involves the 2013 sentencing of Wesley Hawkins, who was 18 when he was busted posting videos to YouTube of boys as young as 11 being raped by adult men.
Jackson, citing his young age, sentenced Hawkins to just three months in prison, as opposed to the 24 months recommended by prosecutors.
‘I am not persuaded that two years in prison is necessary,’ she said at the time, according to the new transcripts, citing Hawkins’ ‘future potential’.