Although it hasn’t happened yet, it is highly likely that Ketanji Brown Jackson will soon be confirmed as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The question is will Future Justice Jackson be a friend or a foe of the registrant community?
It is clear that Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first African American woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. It is also clear that Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first former public defender to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Both are long overdue.
What is not clear is whether Future Justice Jackson will help or hinder the registrant community during its continuing struggle for the restoration of its members’ civil rights. Why the lack of clarity?
During the Senate confirmation hearings, many senators questioned Ketanji Brown Jackson regarding sentences she rendered as a trial court judge. Some of those sentences involved individuals convicted of a sex offense, including but not limited to, possession of child pornography.
When answering the senators’ questions, Future Justice Jackson explained the federal government’s mandatory minimum sentences for child pornography offenses as well as a trial judge’s discretion to deviate from those guidelines based upon factors determined by Congress. She even suggested that some trial judges believe the federal government’s mandatory minimum sentences are too harsh. These answers appear to favor the registrant community.
However, the fact that senators continue to barrage the future justice with additional questions regarding sex offense issues sends a clear message. They are watching now, and they will be criticizing soon the future justice’s decisions on these issues. A wrong decision, that is a decision the senators interpret as soft on crime, could result in the lack of another African American woman or another public defender being appointed to that court.
Ketanji Brown Jackson knows this, and that knowledge could adversely affect her future decisions as a U. S. Supreme Court justice. We need Future Justice Jackson to be strong and to stick to her principles. We need Future Justice Jackson to help the U.S. Supreme Court correct the terrible mistake it made in 2003 when it decided that registration is not punishment and therefore new sex offender laws could be passed and applied retroactively.
Laws that affect where a registrant and family can and cannot live. Laws that affect where a registrant can and cannot work. Laws that affect where a registrant and family can and cannot visit (beach, fast food restaurant. dog park, etc.).
As we continue to watch the Senate confirmation hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson, it is important to pay attention to what she has to say. It will also be important in March 2023 to communicate to her and her fellow U.S. Supreme Court justices the need to restore the civil rights of registrants and their families.
I don’t dislike Ms. Brown’s responses. The fault lies with the Senate treating a confirmation hearing like political theater, namely Hawley and Graham.
I think the response about CP, while not what this community wanted to hear, is the correct one. I’m more interested her being an empathetic individual who has stated that registration is punishment. Thankfully, that statement hasn’t come up.
Moreover, there’s a racist undercurrent in her questioning. Hawley, Graham, and others never asked Kavanaugh, Coney-Barret, or Gorsuch about any of this. The Senate sees a black woman in power and is showing its true face.
We have to keep the hope. There has been so much progress made in 10 years than has been made in the 20 years before that. I have faith that we are going to keep the progress going.
Hoping for the very best!! Judge Jackson appears to be an exceptionally qualified candidate in intelligence, education, experience and character.
(P.S.: 😱 ‘Hope everyone enjoyed Senator Lindsey Graham’s hysterical hyperbole on CP this morning! Oh my! 😲 ‘Talk about getting his panties twisted AND in a bunch!! Girlfriend needs to sit his ass down and shut the f#k up! 🫣😱…imho😌😁)
Others considered Gorsuch a friend, but now are not so sure he is. Considering her a friend is, IMHO, not wise. She should always be considered a foe who should be courted during adversarial court hearings and documentation submittals to get her (and others) favorable opinions sought for the case which works for the registrant. Kissing her ass is not the name of the game when using the facts, but using the facts to get a strong point across which can sway her to vote for the registrant.
Good piece. I’m not worried about Future Justice Jackson because her appointment is for life, she’ll never need to apply for a job again (as a Senator noted this week), and frankly she does not strike me as someone who cares what Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, or Lindsay Graham think about her–nor anyone, for that matter. I’ve been disappointed lately in a lot of Democrats, but I find KBJ refreshing.
Question: If Judge Jackson replaces Justice Stephen Breyer, would she also be assigned oversight of the First Circuit courts (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island)?
Do we know if there are any significant sex offender or Registry-related cases working their way through the First Circuit?? 🤔
“But she added: “It’s not just about how much time a person spends in prison — it’s about understanding the harm of this behavior. It’s about all of the other kinds of restraints that sex offenders are ordered, rightly, to live under at the end of the day. The sentences in these cases include not only prison time, but restraints on computer use, sometimes for decades. Restraints on ability to go near children, sometimes for decades. All of these things judges consider in order to effect what Congress has required — which is a sentence that’s sufficient but not greater than necessary to promote the purposes of punishment.””
https://www.connectradio.fm/abc-politics/ketanji-brown-jackson-confirmation-hearings-live-updates-jackson-defends-child-porn-sentencing-record
=> “It’s about all of the other kinds of restraints that sex offenders are ordered, rightly(!!!!!), to live under at the end of the day.” At least she seems to admit / imply that this is punishment, at the end of the day.
With friends like that, who need enemies?
Holy cow! Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson attended Palmetto High School – our local high school just one block from where I grew up in Miami!!! Stunned! Amazed! Thrilled!
What a missed opportunity for registrants. Some how, some way we all should have been prepared for this and especially our legal minds should have figured a way to use this to get the message into the record of this hearing to get the facts out. Bummer to the extreme….
At least now we know which party wants to make CP possession out to be on the SAME level as murder or physical rape. The hypocrisy is, they’re just exploiting their outrage culture-driven base for easy political points.
As for Jackson, I certainly hope she doesn’t fall in line just to save face.
My hope is that her appointment and confirmation as a SCOTUS justice will be an example to other judges that, against all odds and despite outright BULLYING by lawmakers, sticking to the true principles of justice and our constitution equals reward. She could have sold out years ago, but she didn’t. She may tell these BULLIES what they want to hear now. However, I believe she will hold true to her principles after her appointment. And I pray that she will inspire other judges to put their foot down and defend what’s left of the Judicial Branch of this government.
A question for Janice. How will this subject affect the March 2023 event? As you pointed out, the Senate kabuki theater could cut both ways. I watched the hearings and, as usual, opponents blended the emotionalism of child pornography with registration. Although the focus was on child porn, Judge Jackson was also confronted about her law review note, with the implication that she supported sex offenders. That article essentially discussed the pitfalls in legal analyses regarding punishment/regulation determinations.
I can see the 2023 rally on the Supreme Court steps devolving in the same direction. This will invariably be couched in terms of being soft on crime and endangering children, or defending predators. Literally 15 minutes ago, I had a relatively philisophical conversation with a federal probation officer about my political interest in registry issues. He equated this as an indication I was not accepting responsibility, at least on a subliminal level. Of course he believes the registry makes society safer and employs all the standard non-fact-based retorts. Of course, he also believes other crimes should have registries.
After seeing the blockheadedness of some senators, I wonder how the rally can stimulate a reasoned public conversation. Much could be spoiled by one Josh Hawley pontificating on CNN. I’m not so concerned that “Justice” Jackson needs to worry about being perceived as soft on crime by the public. She really only has an audience of 8 to worry about. I don’t think she was cowed by the opposition, even though she was at a job interview. Hopefully, she will be handed a huge megaphone, and she shows no signs of cowardace.
F Canadian Cruz and pump fisting snot nose Hawley and little miss emotion graham sick people
Please recognize that the rude and hostile (and racist) questioning of Judge Jackson (in respect to CP cases/sentencing) by the extremist conservative senators (Cruz, Hawley, Cotton, Graham, Blackburn, et al) is a way of putting pressure on this Judge AS WELL AS all the other Sup. Ct. Justices, should this issue be presented in any future CP cases coming before that court. We all know that there is a valid question as to the constitutionality of post-prison punishments (registries, presence restrictions, travel restrictions, etc.) which will, sooner or later, come before the Sup. Court. Think of the senator’s insulting attacks against Judge Jackson as pre-emptive strikes against our positions. Further, think of it also as these senator’s defense that the schemes which they have enacted are NOT cruel and unusual and NOT in violation of our constitution. Most of us, of course, disagree.
The proceedings are awful and pathetic. Each side laying claim to the higher ground yet neither succeeding in doing anything beneficial for the people. A bunch of cutthroats attacking each other for no sound reason other than their own careers. All this talk of child pornography and how to punish those who engage in its use but zero conversation about the means by which it proliferated via the DDI. “We can use it to protect our most vulnerable” they said. Brown stated she had sentenced over a hundred people for those crimes herself. But no talk at all about regulating the DDI..not one word!
I’ve little doubt Brown will be confirmed, but the confirmation processes are increasingly nasty. Nevertheless it exposes the apparent disposition of the union as a nasty one. And why should we expect the people to act any different toward each other in the public venue. No reason then to expect a continuation of the negative spiral.
I am so tired of hearing “to protect our most vulnerable” when they leave the most vulnerable children of registrants out of the equation. They suffer all the time when they are being bullied in school or can’t have their parent come to their school play, etc. The other phrase “for public safety” irks me the same. The reason they don’t have public registries for DUI, murder, gang, or drug dealers is because one out of 5 people in the US has a record, and the maps with their red dots will explode. Pretty much every 5th neighbor of yours will be on the map most likely, and that would make us look really dumb, like we don’t have many honest persons living in the US. Just because there is a Hit List for one type of offense does not make the other offenses less serious.
I give Judge Jackson kuddo’s for not trouncing Lindsey Graham or Ted Cruz. They are such drama queens.
What I don’t understand is why she allowed herself to fall into the trap of using the term “sex offender” rather than “registrant” and why she didn’t set her questioners straight that “all sex offenders are not predators trolling the internet”, this was the perfect opportunity for her to set the record straight and to quickly educate her uneducated peers as to what is included in that broad term “sex offender”.
IMHO, Judge Jackson’s ability to maintain her calm, cool, unflappable composure in the face of the onslaught was absolutely remarkable.
VERY impressive! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
What never ceases to amaze me is that the constitutionality of registered sex offender laws is hinged on the single Psychology Today magazine statistic from 1986. And none of the geniuses at the high and mighty Supreme Court do anything about this! It’s so very obvious–and none of the incompetents in government are doing anything about it!
If not for this bogus statistic, the sex offender registry, that we know of today, would cease to exist.
The “Justice” system is a complete scam. And I for one, after watching portions of the hearing process, am sick of the political showboating.
This is why I opined that, in this hyper-partisan rhetoric by both parties, no logical discussion can be had for the existence of the registry. I fear that this nomination has doomed meaningful discussion for getting rid of the registry for many years, and has undone any gains we made, NO MATTER THE OUTCOME.
I’m going to just leave this Washington Post graphic here for your consideration and conclusions. Someone is pretty experienced in the legal realm vs her possible colleagues
Retired federal judge: In child porn cases, I did exactly what Ketanji Brown Jackson did
Meaning, he thought about it and used his brain to consider everything, not just use a guideline hard and fast with mandatory use and no exceptions. Again, a thinking Judge or Justice is dangerous because they think, not just emotionally react, like some politicians.
Senate panel tied 11-11 on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination, forcing an extra vote on her way to being confirmed to the Supreme Court
IMO, any case outcome could be seen as “Judicial Activism” if the people want to see it that way, especially over the long term. I think the good Sen from SC needs to go back to his law school and JAG days to rethink what he thinks on it.
“Jackson expressed gratitude for the nomination and pledged that if confirmed, she will “support and defend the Constitution and this grand experiment of American democracy that has endured over these past 246 years.” “I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts. And I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me without fear or favor consistent with my judicial oath,” Jackson said in her opening statement.“
SCOTUS judges are not beholden to anyone and decide how they see fit.
RBJ wrote a scathing dissent of the SOR in Smith v. Doe.
There is no reason to believe KBJ will alter her decisions because of the beliefs of the right wing extremists catering to QAnon.
Now, if we can replace Alito and Thomas with liberal justices, then I may have confidence in discussions about overturning Smith v. Doe.
Is the Supreme court justice “friend or foe” That is a question in and of itself. Sure ED talks about the Senate Kabuki theater. Others talk about heap shots, hysterical attacks, Indecisive would be a good word for this type of ground. Course I have never been in front of a Supreme Court Justice do do I want to be in much of this man made justice.
Friend of foe well Jesus is a friend of all. These Supreme Court Justices have their days also but are not perfect. Have the commandments been taken away from true justice? Due process seems to be a plea deal for their process of standard. So what is citizen entitlement today? Is not respect to those that deserve respect or in everything do to others what you would have them do to you.
Friend or foe. Who is the friend or foe in many of these registry fraud ordeals. Is justice so vain and blind today that court systems have a love for money or is justice a measure of a silence of the lamb all rapped up in a plea bargain or deal offering. Yes we can all be upset but in the outcome of it all who is the friend or foe of truth and the American Justice System
So who’s learning to do good seek. Seek justice, correct oppression. Question how does one plead when one has no victim in this charade of justice. So what is good setting up someone or seeking justice or rendering true justice?
Hi Janice, thank you for all you do for this community, you are truly directed by God! I have a question. Are their any statistics on Sex Offender who have reconnected in a positiive relationship with their victims? I have, after years of Sex offender therapy, individual and then family therapy. I have had a healthy Father Daughter relationship with my adopted daughter since 2008.We recently discussed my registration status, because she was wondering why I cannot travel to the Philippines with my wife. When she found out about the registration, she told me that is ridiculous, why are they still making you register? I told her, that is just the way it is for now, but people are working on it to get the laws changed. I am so blessed to be in the position I am. The Government may never forgive, but God does and so do victims!