MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley a “grandstander” on “Morning Joe” Tuesday for raising concerns about Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record.
“It’s just pure demagoguery. Any prosecutor looking at that knows,” Scarborough began. “It’s what Josh Hawley does, he just lies. He engages in demagoguery, while we’re having hearings about the Capitol being ransacked, he’s sitting up there, you know, crossing his legs in the balcony pretending like he’s not paying attention. He’s a grandstander, he’s not a serious guy.”
Axio’s Jonathon Swan responded saying the “narrow attack” against Jackson’s record on child pornography rulings would solely come from Hawley, but that she will receive more criticism from other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who has already suggested that Jackson has sympathized with criminals. (RELATED: ‘You Don’t Know’: Sen. Josh Hawley Hits Back At Reporter Claiming He Voted For Judges Soft On Child Porn Offenders)
Hawley alleged that Jackson’s sentencing for child pornography offenders was “beyond ‘soft on crime'” and that her record “endangers our children” on Twitter Wednesday. He cited 10 child porn cases in which he alleged Jackson did not follow mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.
The senator cited the case United States v. Hawkins, in which he accused the nominee of sentencing an offender to 3 months in prison despite the Sentencing Guidelines recommending 10 years imprisonment. In United States v. Stewart, she only sentenced an offender possessing thousands of child pornographic images to 57 months imprisonment, despite the guidelines calling for 97-121 months.
He also alleged that she pushed to eliminate mandatory minimum guidelines for child pornography cases while serving on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and questioned the requirement for individuals convicted of purchasing child porn to register as sex offenders.
The senator said he is “not interested in trapping Judge Jackson” at Monday’s opening statements, calling the nominee “enormously accomplished” and saying he expects she will have a thorough answer regarding her record.
Jackson defended her rulings at her Tuesday confirmation hearing, saying that a judge must consider several aspects of the crime to sentence a fitting punishment within the guidelines. She also said the victims’ point of view is important to consider when deciding the proper sentence.
“For every defendant who comes before me and who suggests, as they often do, that they’re just a looker, that these crimes don’t really matter, they’ve collected these things on the internet and it’s fine, I tell them about the victim statements that have come in to me as a judge,” she said. “I tell them about the adults, who were former child sex abuse victims, who tell me that they will never have a normal adult relationship because of this abuse.”
Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy called Hawley’s allegations “meritless to the point of demagoguery” in a Sunday piece for the National Review. He argued that Jackson’s view to scrap mandatory minimum guidelines is “mainstream.”