Things got a bit heated at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson this afternoon after Biden’s Supreme Court nominee told senators they’d need to see pre-sentencing reports for the full context of some of her decisions on the bench. During the hearings, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and others have been highlighting Judge Brown’s record of being lenient in sentencing those convicted on child pornography charges.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley was watching the hearing and noticed what happened after Republicans heard Judge Brown say they’d need to see the pre-sentence hearing reports for full context:
The senators are fighting over the pre-sentence reports in Judge Jackson's child pornography cases. Jackson just testified that you need to see not just the prosecutor's filing but the PSR to understand the case. The GOP pounced on the comments and demanded the PSRs…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 23, 2022
Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin, who chair’s the committee, immediately came to the rescue after Republicans requested the pre-sentencing reports:
Chairman Dick Durbin on releasing pre-sentence reports:
"I do not want it weighing on my conscience that I gave the green light to release this information so that it might endanger the lives of innocent victims. I'm sorry. That is a bridge too far for me." pic.twitter.com/ooOrblYsmH
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 23, 2022
Watch @SenMikeLee's stunned face as Chairman Durbin refuses to release pre-sentencing reports as requested by Republican Senators: pic.twitter.com/btVOzv5vPR
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 23, 2022
Turley’s thread continued:
…Sen. Durbin is objecting that the move would "put lives at risk" and he is not willing to risk lives. He is clearly correct that these PSRs contain information that should not be made public. However, without dealing with the value of the PSRs, they can be redacted…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 23, 2022
…Confirmations often deal with FBI reports that contain similarly confidential and raw information from field investigations. Durbin has accused the GOP of endangering lives of innocent persons…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 23, 2022
… Once again, there could be objections to the weight given to the PSR, but I think the accusation of endangering lives ignores the ability to redact material. I have worked with PSRs and most of the recommendations are focused on guideline calculations and recommendations…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 23, 2022
…One approach is to make the PSRs available as a sealed and non-public documents. A public version could then be produced in redacted form. Senators could see the original and the redacted material to guarantee that redactions are performed appropriately.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 23, 2022
Senator Durbin will not go along with any of those suggestions to release the reports in a way that the victims’ identities remain confidential.
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