Lindsay Graham Accused KBJ of Not Thinking Online Child Porn Is That Bad

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham seemed to suggest that Ketanji Brown Jackson didn’t take online child pornography cases seriously during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“There’s an epidemic of this on the internet,” Graham said. “When it comes to sentencing child pornographic possession cases, do you routinely discount the fact that a computer was used?” 

Jackson attempted to explain that the guidelines surrounding sentencing for child porn cases were drafted before computers became so universal, which impacted how she handed down sentences when she was a trial judge. Many judges see these guidelines as out of date, CNN reported last week, after Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley first started painting a misleading portrait of Jackson’s record in this area.

Throughout the hearings, Republicans have repeatedly attacked the Supreme Court nominee for her record on child sex abuse cases. They’ve sought to suggest that Jackson has been soft on sentences for defendants in those cases—a claim that has been found to be misleading again and again. 

“Judge Jackson's record in these [child porn] cases does show she is quite skeptical of the ranges set by the [child porn] guidelines, but so too were prosecutors in the majority of her cases and so too are district judges nationwide (appointed by presidents of both parties),” Douglas Berman, a Ohio State University law professor, wrote in a review of Jackson’s cases. Jackson’s sentences, he added, “strike me as not at all out of the ordinary.”

Beyond incarceration, Jackson tried to tell Graham that she used other methods of deterrence.

“With respect to the computer, one of the most effective deterrents is one that I imposed in every case and one that judges across the country impose in every case, which is substantial, substantial supervision,” she said. “Any of these defendants—”

Graham interrupted, “You think it is a bigger deterrent to take somebody who’s on a computer looking at sexual iamges of children in the most disgusting way is to supervise their computer habits versus putting them in jail?

“No, senator, I didn’t say versus—”

“That’s exactly what you said,” Graham interrupted.

Over the course of their roughly 20-minute exchange, Graham interrupted Jackson upwards of a dozen times. 

“It is not rational to take the venue of choice of child pornographers, the computer, that have 85 million images on it, and not consider that feeding the beast. We’re trying to get people to stop this crap,” Graham told Jackson at one point. “I want you to stop that! I want people to go to jail to stop that, because you’re feeding the beast.”

“We have fundamental differences in how we deter crime,” he continued. “I think the best way you deter crime when it comes to child pornography is you lower the boom on anybody who goes on the internet and pulls out these images for their pleasure.”

“Senator, every person in all these charts and documents, I sent to jail,” Jackson replied. “Because I know how serious this crime is.”

Graham eventually told Jackson: “Every judge who does what you’re doing is making it easier for the children to be exploited.”

Towards the end, Graham tried to return to his personal grievance: the treatment of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who was accused of sexual assault and then confirmed to the Supreme Court nearly four years and two Supreme Court nominees ago. (The Republican men on the Senate Judiciary Committee have repeatedly used Jackson’s confirmation process to complain about Kavanaugh’s. 

“How would you feel if I had a letter from somebody accusing you of something, a crime or misconduct, for weeks, and I give it to Sen. Durbin just before this hearing’s over and not allow you to comment on the accusation—how would you feel about that?” Graham asked Jackson towards the end of his questions, in a reference to the letter where a woman—later publicly revealed to be Christine Blasey Ford—alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in high school.

“Senator, I’m not sure. I don’t understand the context of the question,” Jackson said, before saying that she had not watched the Kavanaugh hearings.

Eventually, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin jumped in to try to get Graham to give Jackson a chance to respond. “I’m gonna give her an opportunity to finally complete an answer,” he said.

“So, if I could address—” Jackson started.

“Just answer the question,” Graham interrupted.

“Senator, I don’t have any comment on what procedures took place in this body regarding Justice—”

“What’d you think about the Kavanaugh hearings?” Graham interrupted.

Senators are expected to wrap up their questioning of Jackson on Wednesday. Democrats hope to have her confirmed by the full Senate in April.