(WATCH) Josh Hawley Rips Into SCOTUS Nominee For Lenient Sentencing Of Child Predators (VIDEO)

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) gave the opening remarks on Monday as the Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Hawley referenced a multitude of cases involving child pornography or child sex abuse in which Jackson was the judge in charge of the sentencing.

Hawley said, “What concerns me, and I’ve been very candid about this, is that in every case, in each of these seven, Judge Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what the federal guidelines recommended and below what prosecutors recommended and so I think there’s a lot to talk about there.”

WATCH:

The transcript of his opening statement is:

SEN. HAWLEY: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Judge, congratulations on your nomination. It’s nice to see you again. Congratulations to all of your family. I know that this is a big moment for you and for them, and rightly so. I enjoyed our meeting a couple of weeks ago. You know, as I’ve said to folks who asked about it, one of the things I particularly appreciated about our meeting, besides how much time you gave me, was how candid and forthcoming you were, which I really respected.

And I look forward to a candid conversation again in the days that come. And by the way, I’m admiring how you’re sitting so stoically through all of this, all this senator talk, but I’m looking forward to visiting with you again. You did me the — the honor when we sat down of being very candid, and I hope I was candid with you.

I’ve been candid since. I want to be candid with you today so you know exactly what it is I want to talk about and so you know exactly where my head is at. So, let me — let me say a few things that I’m concerned about, aspects of your record that — that trouble me. This’ll come as no surprise. I’ve said it in public already, but I want to be, again, very candid in the interest of an open and honest discussion and specifics.

So, here are, I hope in the next couple of days, some of the cases from your time on the — on the court — the district court, the federal district court, that I hope that we can talk about. Let me just run for you through a few of them so you know exactly which ones I mean. United States versus Hawkins; this was a child pornography case where the defendant distributed multiple images of child porn, possessed dozens more, including videos.

The federal sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of 97 to 121 months in prison. Prosecutors recommended 24 months in prison. Judge Jackson gave the defendant three months in prison. United States versus Chazen [PH], there it’s — that case, the defendant possessed 48 files of child pornography. The federal guidelines recommended 78 to 97 months in prison. The prosecutor recommended the same. Judge Jackson sentenced him to 28 months.

United States versus Cooper. There, the defendant possessed dozens of images of child pornography and distributed — I should say distributed dozens of images of child pornography, possessed over 600. The federal guidelines recommended 151 to 188 months in prison. That’s a long time. The prosecutor recommended 72 months.

Judge Jackson gave the defendant 60 months, which was the lowest sentence permitted by the law. United States versus Down [PH], that’s a case where the defendant distributed 33 graphic images and videos of child sexual assault to an anonymous messaging app; unfortunately, a practice that’s becoming more common.

The federal guidelines recommended 70 to 87 months in prison. The prosecutor recommended 70 months in prison. Judge Jackson sentenced him to only 60 months. Again, that’s the lowest level that was permitted by law In that case. United States versus Stewart, the defendant there distributed scores of images of children suffering sexual abuse.

The guidelines recommended 97 to 121 months in prison. The prosecutor recommended 97 months in prison. Judge Jackson gave him 57 months. In the United States versus Sears [PH], the defendant distributed over 100 videos of child pornography. The guidelines recommended 97 to 121 months in prison. The prosecutor recommended 97 months in prison.

Judge Jackson gave him 71 months. In the United States versus Savage, the defendant was convicted of traveling across state lines to engage in sexual intercourse with a child, and also possessed six separate thumb drives of child pornography. The guidelines recommended 46 to 57 months in prison. The prosecutor recommended 49 months in prison.

Judge Jackson sentenced him to 37 months in prison. Now, those are seven cases that represent, as near as we can tell, all of Judge Jackson’s cases dealing with child pornography from her time on the district court in which she had some discretion to hand down a sentence. There’s some other cases in which the law — she didn’t have any discretion.

The law bound the sentence that she had to had to give. And what concerns me, and I’ve been very candid about this, is that in every case, in each of these seven, Judge Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what the federal guidelines recommended and below what prosecutors requested. And so I think there’s a lot to talk about there, and I look forward to talking about it. Now, I will note that some have said that the federal sentencing guidelines are too harsh on child sex crimes, especially child pornography.

I’ve heard that argument a lot in recent days. The Chairman quoted someone earlier today who takes that point of view. I’ll just be honest, I can’t say that I agree with that. I mean, the amount of child pornography in circulation has absolutely exploded in recent years. Here’s a New York Times report from 2019, and I’m quoting now.

Last year, tech companies reported over 45 million online photos and videos of children being sexually abused, more than double what they found the previous year. The report goes on to say this; 20 years ago, these online images were a problem. Ten years ago, they were an epidemic. Now, the crisis is at a breaking point.

Unfortunately, it’s even worse than that. Just last week, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported finding 85 million files of child pornography in 2021. And, of course, this committee has heard testimony from prosecutors and others who are grappling with the problem of how to get at this porn and those who distribute it, how to prosecute them and hold them accountable.

Here’s my point; I think it’s difficult against this backdrop to argue that the sentencing guidelines are too harsh or outmoded, or that we should be somehow treating child porn offenders more leniently than the guidelines recommend. But I want to be clear about this, that those arguments that I’ve just been rehearsing, those who say that, those aren’t — that’s not what Judge Jackson has said.

She hasn’t had the chance yet to respond to this, and she deserves that chance. So others have made these arguments. I don’t agree with them, but I think it’s important we hear from Judge Jackson, and we’ll have the chance to in coming days. And I think again the — the candor that Judge Jackson has shown previously, I look forward to, and she deserves the ability to speak for herself on this issue.

So I will just say in closing, Mr. Chairman, some have asked why did I raise these questions ahead of the hearing? Why not wait until the hearing and spring them on Judge Jackson, as it were? And my answer to that is very simple. I’m not interested in trapping Judge Jackson. I’m not interested in trying to play gotcha.

I’m interested in her answers, because I found in our time together that she was enormously thoughtful, enormously accomplished, and I suspect has a coherent view and explanation and set of thinking, way of thinking about this, that I look forward to hearing. And I think she deserves the chance to talk about it. I think the American people deserve the chance to hear her answers.

So there are my concerns, Judge. There are the cases. I imagine there will be others that we can talk about on other subjects. But I’d like to talk about those, so you know exactly where I’m coming from. Thanks again for giving me the time a few weeks ago. Congratulations again. I look forward to finally hearing from you tomorrow.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for any updates.