Ketanji Brown Jackson Swats Away Tom Cotton’s Questions on Criminal Penalties: ‘I Am Not the Congress’

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a second day in a row. On Tuesday the Supreme Court nominee answered questions more from senators, including Tom Cotton (R-AR).

Cotton focused on Jackson’s prior tenure on the United States Sentencing Commission, which is part of the federal judiciary and aims to “reduce sentencing disparities and promote transparency and proportionality in sentencing.” The commission distributes information to the courts on existing federal sentencing guidelines.

After noting that more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in a one-year span, Cotton asked Jackson, “In general, do you think the United States should strengthen or weaken sentences for fentanyl traffickers – traffickers, not users?”

Jackson reminded Cotton that Congress sets penalties for federal crimes.

“Determination, that is in the province of Congress,” she said. Cotton invoked previous statements in which Jackson said sentencing for a judge is a “discretionary act.”

He then criticized sentence reductions, while calling attention to Jackson’s own record as a judge with an inference she was “soft” on crime.

After he asked about her record with retroactive sentencing, Jackson told Cotton judges use sentencing parameters set forth by Congress:

It’s discretionary for sure, but we do so within the bounds of a sentencing range that Congress prescribes and at times in which congress decides that a penalty needs to be heightened, they impose a mandatory minimum and our range is shorter. And, when looking at the crime, we’re not looking at a policy matter across all fentanyl crimes and determining whether the penalty should be increased. As a judge, we are asked in the context of a single prosecution.

She then stated she could not offer a broad answer regarding “whether a penalty should be increased or decreased” for people in prison.

The judge contended that each case is unique, and again stated sentencing is discretionary.

Cotton responded by saying people who have lost a loved one to a drug overdose might not view questions about retroactive sentencing as difficult to answer.

The senator invoked a case where Jackson had reduced a 20-year sentence for a fentanyl dealer. He asked her: “Do you believe that re-sentencing years after a conviction tends to reduce sentence lengths?”

Jackson went back to the senator’s inference that she could not answer a tough question about sentences for drug dealers.

“Senator, respectfully, I just wanted to remark on your previous question, and your statement that these are not difficult questions,” she said. “It’s not that they’re difficult questions, it’s that they’re not questions for me. I am not the Congress. I am not taking policy around sentencing. My job is to look in a particular case and decide what the penalty should be within the range that Congress prescribes.”

Cotton opposed criminal justice reform legislation signed by former President Donald Trump in 2018. He remains vehemently opposed to leniency fore most incarcerated felons – especially those whose crimes resulted in the loss of life.

The Arkansas Republican is often floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2024.

Watch above, via MSNBC.