There is very little suspense on Capitol Hill regarding Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. The moment Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement, it was assured that his replacement would end up with the votes needed, likely with several Republicans offering their support along the way.

KBJ’s confirmation hearing hasn’t changed that dynamic. As RedState reported, she has received tough but fair questions from the GOP members of the Judiciary Committee, with the most contentious ones centering on her sentencing of pedophiles in possession of child pornography. In the seven cases she handled on the matter, she gave sentences below (sometimes far below) the federal guidelines for the crimes committed. Sen. Josh Hawley has led the charge to expose that reality and question it.

On Tuesday morning, the second day of hearings began, and onlookers were greeted by Sen. Dick Durbin dabbling in absolute absurdity regarding the treatment of KBJ.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin — who was part of a mob that accused Brett Kavanaugh of gang rape — expresses bewilderment and disgust that Josh @HawleyMO would raise questions about Ketanji Brown Jackson's sentencing record for child sex predators. pic.twitter.com/c68ZpUTfk5

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 22, 2022

Durbin reminds Judiciary Committee before questioning of Judge Jackson kicks off that "history has proven speeches don't have to be eternal to be immortal."

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) March 22, 2022

I’m just glad to see we are now at the “any questioning of absolutely anything regarding KBJ’s record is immoral” stage of this farce. It is truly mind-blowing to see the same people who questioned Amy Coney Barrett’s religion and accused Brett Kavanaugh of gang rape suddenly clutch their pearls over the treatment of a Supreme Court nominee. In retrospect, me simply calling it absurd is probably far too kind. Maybe I should go with inane, asinine, farcical, or insane?

The beat goes on, though, and while the hearing continues as of this writing, there has already been some news made. KBJ did actually respond directly to the charges of her lenient sentencing of pedophiles, and her answer was sketchy at best.

Yikes. Judge Jackson defends her record of letting child porn offenders off the hook, saying that federal guidelines for such offenders are outdatedpic.twitter.com/wIMc7S09xC

— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) March 22, 2022

The argument she’s making is that because child pornography was once distributed by physical mail, the volume possessed had more of a correlation to the seriousness of the offender. KBJ then argues that the sentencing guidelines are now outdated because of the ease of distribution on the internet. Color me extremely skeptical on that point.

Yes, it is easier to obtain and distribute child pornography via the internet than it once was via the US Postal Service. Yet, even in these more modern times, the volume of materials a person has on their computer still offers evidence of the level of seriousness of their crime. If someone has a dozen child pornography pictures compared to thousands, the former is obviously not as deep into things as the latter. Besides, law enforcement can tell how much child pornography has actually been exported on the internet by someone in possession of it.

Still, even past the particulars, I find KBJ’s argument less than convincing. Is murder a less serious crime today than it was before firearms existed? After all, it’s a lot easier to pull a trigger on a gun than to wrestle with someone and stab them to death. The crime is still the crime, even if technology has made it easier to commit. Past that, I’m not sure I care much for the level of possession and distribution in cases like this. Of all the crimes to go easy on, child pornography doesn’t seem like one that warrants leniency.

So why did KBJ actually do what she did regarding those cases? The answer is that she likely holds the typical left-wing view that it is up to judges and district attorneys to “reform” the criminal justice system by limiting imprisonment. It’d be a lot easier on everyone if she’d just admit that and move on. As I said, she’s getting confirmed regardless.