Ketanji Brown Jackson Hits Back at Josh Hawley Over Whether She Has ‘Regret’ About Child Porn Sentence

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson hit back at Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Tuesday during the third day of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on her nomination.

Hawley asked Jackson if she had any “regret” over sentencing Wesley Hawkins, who was convicted of distributing and possessing child pornography, to three months behind bars.

“Do you regret it or not?” asked Hawley.

Jackson replied, “Senator, what I regret is that in a hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences and I tried to explain that many times–”

Hawley cut her off and asked, “You regret that we’re focusing on your cases?”

“No,” Jackson answered. “I’m talking about the fact that you’re talking about seven… very serious cases … some of which involve conduct that I sentence people to 25-30 years.”

Hawley interrupted and, appearing frustrated, asked why she gave three months in the case.

This was not the first time Hawley has raised the issue of Jackson’s sentencing in child pornography cases as the two went back and forth about the issue on Tuesday. Jackson has come under fire from GOP senators for her past sentences in such cases.

If confirmed, Jackson would become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, succeeding retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she clerked for.

Watch above, via C-SPAN.