Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing the GOP parliamentary group to vote against Ketanji Brown Jackson’s ratification in the Supreme Court, according to The Hill. Despite Jackson’s groundbreaking candidacy – she would become the first black woman in U.S. history to sit on the Supreme Court if successfully confirmed – the Republican from Kentucky argued that the “no” vote would not be based on “race or gender “but in the judge’s file, according to the publication. During a recent GOP luncheon in the Senate, McConnell allegedly begged his colleagues to dismiss Jackson, arguing that the District Court of Appeals judge avoided a harsh approach to crime, a narrative that many Republicans Justice pressed during the confirmation hearings as they challenged her court history of conviction in several sex-related cases. A Republican senator told The Hill that McConnell praised members of the jury who raised the issue of sentencing. “I just want to thank the members of the jury for the great work they have done in uncovering this judge’s radical history, and in particular her background in child pornography cases, which is alarmingly extreme,” she said. said the MP in the post. McConnell then brought the case of Wesley Hawkins, who in 2013 appeared before the then federal district court Brown in a child pornography case where he pleaded guilty to a felony. Hawkins was 18 at the time of his arrest when he was 19 when Jackson was sentenced to three months in prison, in addition to three months’ house arrest and six years in custody. Many conservatives argued that the sentence was too lenient. Prosecutors recommended two years in prison, while Hawkins’s defense counsel requested one day in prison and five years in custody. Hawkins had no previous criminal record. During lunch, McConnell reportedly continued to lean on the Hawkins case. “I think the Democrats thought this would be an easy process, a confirmation, but it will not be because she is a radical candidate and I hope every Republican would take her record seriously, which I think is worrying,” he said. in a source. The Republican leader’s messages put some pressure on some of Jackson’s potential supporters in the upper house, including Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah. Murkowski was present at the dinner, but did not comment on McConnell’s speech, according to The Hill. Romney said earlier this week that he “enjoyed” meeting Jackson and was still considering his decision. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a senior Republican on the Justice Committee, said this week that he was still undecided on Jackson’s candidacy. She said she was “very smart in her answers”, but also expressed frustration that she would not comment on the extension of the Supreme Court, an issue she would have no control over if confirmed. On Thursday, Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced she would vote in favor of Jackson in court, the first Republican lawmaker to pledge support for her candidacy. McConnell can not stop Jackson’s candidacy, as no member of the 50-member Democratic caucus in the Senate has stated that he would oppose her candidacy. However, the GOP leader is hardening his party’s messages for the by-elections. Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based Republican general with ties to McConnell, told The Hill that Jackson’s candidacy “fits the general [message that] “Democrats are soft on crime and criminals and Republicans are not.” “This will be a great narrative in this campaign,” he told the post. Democrats have categorically rejected any idea that Jackson sought leniency for the offenders, arguing that Republicans have repeatedly ruled in her favor. The party has argued that Jackson is one of many judges who have sought to update federal advisory advice as Internet-based crimes have become more prevalent in the past twenty years. McConnell described Jackson as “very smart” in a recent interview with Fox News, but said she would not follow a strict interpretation of the Constitution. “She is a judicial activist. She is very smart, she is very capable. She will be just like the President [Joe] “Biden wants – a very liberal justice in the Supreme Court,” he said.
