Senate Republicans� unhealthy fixation on child porn, by the numbers
By Dana Milbank

Judging by the numbers, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are
obsessed with child pornography.

In four days of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown
Jackson, the phrase �child porn� (or �pornography� or �pornographer�) was
mentioned 165 times. There were also, according to transcripts, 142 uses of
�sex� (�sexual abuse,� �sexual assault,� �sexual intercourse,� �sex
crimes�), 15 of �pedophile,� 13 of �predators,� 18 of �prepubescent� and
nine of general pornography.

There were only 30 mentions of the First Amendment and 12 of the Bill of
Rights.

The Republican fixation on pornography continued during Monday�s round of
statements by senators before the committee advanced Jackson�s nomination
to the Senate floor. A preliminary transcript showed 41 mentions of �porn�
or �pornography� and 32 mentions of �sex offenders,� �sexual assault� and
the like.

Some of the references to sex and child pornography were made by Democrats
defending Jackson. But the bulk came from the likes of Sens. Josh Hawley
(Mo.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) Marsha
Blackburn (Tenn.) and Mike Lee (Utah). They winked at the QAnon conspiracy
theorists who believe pedophiles control government by portraying Jackson
as an ally of monsters who sexually exploit children � even though her
sentencing record is typical and even though these same Republicans
elevated half a dozen Trump judicial nominees with similar records in child
pornography cases.

�I�m not suggesting she likes what�s happening in child pornography,�
Graham allowed. (Gee, thanks.) But �she has a chance to impose a sentence
that would deter [child pornography], and she chose not to.�

Lee accused Jackson of �minimizing� punishment for �commercialized efforts
to profit off child sex torture� and �sadomasochistic conduct.� Cotton
said, �the child pornography cases are just the most sensational examples
of her soft-on-crime attitude.�

The ever-mendacious Cruz claimed that �we just last week, after the
hearing, got information on another case, United States v. Weekes, of an
individual who raped his 13-year-old niece. Judge Jackson sentenced him to
half what the prosecutors wanted because he failed to register on a sex
registry.�

Actually, that case was mentioned during the hearings, on March 22 � in a
news release issued by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans.

And Hawley stuffed a straw man. �Judge Jackson�s view is that we should
treat everyone more leniently because more and more people are committing
worse and worse child sex offenses,� he claimed, also alleging that �we�ve
been told things like child pornography is actually all a conspiracy, it�s
not real.�

Of course, nobody said child pornography is a conspiracy, or not real; the
supporting examples provided to me by Hawley�s office refer to the QAnon
conspiracy about pedophiles running the country.

In fairness, child pornography wasn�t Republicans� only obsession. The
phrases �critical race theory� or �CRT� came up 66 times during the
hearing. Cotton claimed that Jackson �seems to have a real interest in
helping terrorists.� Cruz even argued that �the odds are over 100 percent
she will vote to give away U.S. sovereignty to international bodies.�

If it�s possible for the odds on anything to be over 100 percent, it�s that
Republicans will continue their peculiar preoccupation with child
pornography as the Jackson nomination goes to the Senate floor. �She has a
particularly curious view about certain kinds of criminal behavior. In this
particular case, people who would distribute child pornography, of all
things,� Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told Fox News on
Friday.

Republicans on the committee congratulated themselves for avoiding
�personal slanders� of the sort they said Democrats inflicted on Brett M.
Kavanaugh after women accused the Donald Trump nominee of sexual
misconduct. Yet, they opposed Jackson with the most grievous of personal
slanders: accusing the Black nominee of secretly promoting racially
divisive teaching, portraying her as a pal of terrorists and repeatedly
suggesting she endangers children by having a soft spot for perpetrators of
heinous sex crimes.

Graham: �Every judge who does what you�re doing is making it easier for the
children to be exploited.�

Cruz: �I also see a record of � advocacy as it concerns sexual predators.�

Blackburn: �What�s your hidden agenda? Is it to let � child predators back
to the streets?�

And, of course, there was Hawley, who previewed the hearings by saying
Jackson�s record �endangers our children.� Three weeks � and eight mentions
of �prepubescent� � later, Hawley ended Monday where he began. He asserted
that a �core point� of his disagreement with Jackson is that she believes
the real victims of child pornography are the perpetrators, not the
children.

As �personal slander� goes, it doesn�t get much lower.