The Senate Judiciary Committee cast a deadlocked 11-11 vote on Monday on approving Democrat President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Despite the deadlocked vote, Jackson, a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, will likely be narrowly confirmed by the full Senate by the end of the week,” CBS News reported. “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly filed a motion to discharge Jackson’s nomination and bring it to the full Senate. A vote is expected to take place later Monday, and support from a majority of the Senate is needed for the nomination to advance.”
Jackson has faced significant scrutiny and criticism over her controversial handling of cases involving child pornography and other sex crimes against children.
Attorneys general from Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota signed onto a letter on Monday from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opposing Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“The undersigned attorneys general and I write to express our opposition to the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court because of her unconscionable leniency toward criminals who possess, publish, and produce child pornography—or, more accurately, images of child rape,” the letter stated. “Judge Jackson hasn’t merely erred on the more forgiving end of a spectrum of available punishments, as many judges sometimes do. Rather, during her decade-long tenure as a federal district court judge, she repeatedly cast victims aside, elevated criminal defendants above them, and sentenced the abusers well below the accepted federal guidelines. For example, in dozens of child pornography cases, she imposed sentences that were anywhere from 15 to nearly 70 percent less than what the prosecutor had requested.”
“President Biden has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on our nation’s highest court,” the letter later added. “This isn’t merely swapping out one liberal for another. Rather, it’s replacing an old-school progressive with a modern leftist who has demonstrated—in word and deed—shocking leniency toward child pornographers. Based on her record, Judge Jackson’s elevation to the Supreme Court would harm that institution, as well as children’s public safety nationwide. The United States Senate should do its job and protect the American people from this dangerous nominee.”
Ketanji Brown Jackson is unfit to serve on #SCOTUS. My fellow AGs agree.
➡️ She supports CRT
➡️ She cannot define a “woman”
➡️ She is unforgivably soft on monsters who possess, publish, produce images of child rape.See our letter to Senate Judiciary: pic.twitter.com/olhySlNMKY
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) April 4, 2022
This report has been updated to include additional information.