During the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley presented multiple examples from Jackson’s record on the bench showing the judge often gave lighter than recommended sentences to those convicted of sex crimes involving minors. That was such a bad look for Biden’s nominee that the fact-checkers immediately started circling the wagons. ABC News, for example, found Judge Jackson’s leniency in child porn sentencing to be “mainstream” among judges.
Basically the fact-checks boil down to Sen. Hawley saying Judge Jackson has been lenient in sentencing convicted child predators is “false” because, hey, lots of other judges are lenient as well. But that’s more than enough for the Biden White House to serve up as a defense of their nominee. White House deputy spokesman Andrew Bates did just that, but included a movie reference:
Hawley's punching himself in the face like Ed Norton in Fight Club.
Fact Check: "Critics of Jackson’s Child Sex Abuse Sentences Backed Judges With Similar Records" https://t.co/B4s1QeUISS
Fact Check: "These Trump judges failed Hawley’s sentencing test" https://t.co/tPbUmkMxWV https://t.co/g9uBGNaRNK
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) March 25, 2022
First of all, about that reference:
Have you ever even watched the movie? Terrible reference considering what happened after.
— DFSTings (@DFSTINGS) March 25, 2022
Edward Norton punched himself in the face as a power move and came out a huge winner.
I am once again asking you to watch the movies you reference instead of just seeing an animated gif. https://t.co/SaysJFtWLd
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 25, 2022
Bates took a swing at Hawley and knocked out his own side.
Have you done anything else this week besides tweet your little 'fact checks' at Senator Hawley?
Because this is *a lot* of tweets for someone who insists there's no merit to claims about KBJ's leniency on child porn offenders 😬😬 https://t.co/XyXCvpEzwC
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) March 25, 2022
"Hawley's punching himself in the face like Ed Norton in Fight Club"
You work in the White House. https://t.co/xanpPp9YLO
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) March 25, 2022
The Biden White House will be pleased because Sen. Joe Manchin announced today that he will vote to confirm Judge Jackson to fill the open Supreme Court seat, but their attempts to put down Hawley exposing those areas of her record on the bench have been massive fails.
I think forcing Democrats to defend light sentences for pedophiles is pretty much a win.
— Lord Explosion Murder (@GenghisKhet) March 25, 2022
This is so pathetic. Bottom line is you're all defending pedophiles and people won't forget.
— King Koch (@BigFatKoch) March 25, 2022
Imagine working your entire life to get into a White House administration just for your job to be you fiercely advocating for pedophiles on twitter dot com https://t.co/BfWcaaGsQJ
— Joseph Chalfant (@JoeChalfant) March 25, 2022
Pat yourselves on the back, Biden staffers & Dems, you’re doing great.
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Related:
Ian Milhiser compares Josh Hawley’s thread on Ketanji Brown Jackson to QAnon and ‘Pizzagate’
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