During a break in the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings, CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates continued her tradition of praising everything Jackson does while also accusing Sen. Lindsey Graham of trying “to educate the first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court.”
Coates, who thinks that Jackson has descended from Mount Olympus, recapped the opening part of day two’s hearings, “I think she's doing phenomenally well…she is phenomenally talented in what she is doing. Of course, it’s her fourth time being before the Judiciary Committee so she's well aware of the stakes and what needs to be done in order to make sure that she's conveying her intellect in a way that is persuasive, that is compelling and really showcases what she's all about.”
On the other side of the spectrum was Graham who had what Coates described as “the most shocking of the day.”
What was so shocking was “The discussions of trying on the one hand to educate the first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States, to try to attempt to educate her on double standards in America was just too rich for me.”
Of course, Coates thinks it is too rich, because Graham could have been talking about her: someone who loves diverse nominees so long as they’re liberals.
Coates went on to praise Jackson’s response to allegations she has been soft on child sex offenders, something chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin would agree with later in the segment.
The man best known for not being able to keep his pants on during Zoom calls wanted to “just add one point about these kiddie porn cases and this—this-- came up, I remember, when I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney back in the '90s is that when those—when those-- sentencing guidelines were written for those cases, that this was a time when the people who committed these crimes would order individual photos and—and—and—get—and—then get them usually through e-mail and then they would be sentenced based on the number of photos they possessed. This was all pre-internet.”
They used the internet to get images before the internet? This is CNN.
This segment was sponsored by ADT.
Here is a transcript for the March 22 show:
CNN At This Hour with Kate Bolduan
3/22/2022
11:33 AM ET
KATE BOLDUAN: CNN's senior legal analyst Laura Coates with us as well. Laura, how do you think the judge has done so far?
LAURA COATES: I think she's doing phenomenally well and I will note, of course, that I am twinning in her outfit inadvertently, but let me tell you that's really where the comparisons stop because she is phenomenally talented in what she is doing. Of course, it’s her fourth time being before the Judiciary Committee so she's well aware of the stakes and what needs to be done in order to make sure that she's conveying her intellect in a way that is persuasive, that is compelling and really showcases what she's all about.I will say the moments with Senator Lindsey Graham were perhaps the most shocking of the day. The discussions of trying on the one hand to educate the first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States, to try to attempt to educate her on double standards in America was just too rich for me. So was the notion of trying to use the time, I think he squandered a great deal, squandering the time pointing out the ideas of other past nominees as opposed to focusing on this particular person. Discussions about the Judge Childs and the idea of so-called conservatives and other realms as well, attacking and asking her about what she knew about these attacks on social media as opposed to what she knew about the law, was a missed opportunity to elevate the conversation and finally, the discussion she had about the sentencing as it relates to the child pornography, as it relates to sex offenders, I think she handled it very well to talk about thematically about the departures from sentencing guidelines, why they can, at times, be appropriate, the nuances about it, but her most strong line to me, was when she said and was asked about Senator Josh Hawley's comments as a mother, as a judge, nothing could be further from the truth, that she was lenient on these offenders. It's a very powerful talking point that was used against her. I think she undermined it particularly well.
…
JEFFREY TOOBIN: Kate, can, can I just add one point about these kiddie porn cases and this—this-- came up, I remember, when I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney back in the '90s is that when those—when those-- sentencing guidelines were written for those cases, that this was a time when the people who committed these crimes would order individual photos and—and—and—get—and—then get them usually through e-mail and then they would be sentenced based on the number of photos they possessed. This was all pre-internet.
So, once the internet came in and—and-- people got access to hundreds and then thousands of photos, they would, the sentencing guidelines would reflect hundreds and then thousands of photos. Federal judges have been struggling with the issue of how do you create a fair system that was designed pre-internet that was, yet—yet-- you have to sentence people post-internet and what I thought Chairman Durbin pointed out is that judges across the country, including Republican-appointed judges, have been saying, “look, we can't apply the rules that were designed pre-internet for an internet society” and many judges have been giving somewhat less sentences as a result and I thought that was a very clear explanation of why Judge Jackson imposed sentences that were all prison sentences. It wasn't like she was letting these people go, but they were somewhat less than the guidelines because the guidelines had not been adapted for the internet era.
