AP FACT CHECK: Republicans twist Jackson’s judicial record

WASHINGTON — In the court of public opinion — like the Supreme Court nomination hearings coming this week — politicians ask questions of witnesses to score points for their side. Their assertions on this front don’t stand up to scrutiny: GOP SEN. JOSH HAWLEY OF MISSOURI: “Judge Jackson has opined there may be a type of ‘less-serious child pornography offender.’. In 2020, in denying compassionate release on medical grounds to a convicted sex offender serving almost six years in prison, Judge Jackson asserted: “The possession and distribution of child pornography is an extremely serious crime because it involves trading depictions of the actual sexual assault of children, and the abuse that these child victims endure will remain available on the internet forever.” ___ REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: “Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record also includes defending terrorists.” — tweet from RNC Research on Feb. 25. So it is not correct to assert that all but two sentences she handed down in such cases, when she served as a district court judge from 2013 until last year, were “below what the government requested.” ___ HAWLEY: “As far back as her time in law school, Judge Jackson has questioned making convicts register as sex offenders.” — tweet Wednesday. It said in part: “In the current climate of fear, hatred, and revenge associated with the release of convicted sex criminals, courts must be especially attentive to legislative enactments that ‘use public health and safety rhetoric to justify procedures that are, in essence, punishment and detention.‘” ___ This article has been updated to CORRECT that Jackson was a district judge when ruling on child pornography cases, not a circuit court judge.