Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faced a variety of questions this week during confirmation hearings. A question about sentencing appears to take her past statements out of context.
"There were 1,561 that were detained in DC Department of Corrections ... I'm going to quote you, each and every criminal defendant in the DC Department of Corrections custody should be released because of the COVID-19 pandemic," Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn said during Wednesday's hearing.
But that was a distortion of Jackson's opinion, according to The Associated Press.
At the beginning of the pandemic, 40 detainees in Washington tested positive for COVID-19. In April 2020, while serving as a U.S. District Court judge, Jackson wrote the "increased risk of harm" in correctional facilities could "reasonably suggests that each and every criminal defendant who is currently in D.C. (Department of Corrections) custody -- and who thus cannot take independent measures to control their own hygiene and distance themselves from others -- should be released."
However, she went on to say the courts should rule on a case-by-case basis within "the dictates of the law."
She was actually just ruling on one case, not the case of 1,561 inmates. Jackson ultimately determined the defendant should not be released to home detention because he was young, healthy and, because of violent crimes he committed, a danger to society.
On Wednesday, Jackson said, in her ruling she wanted to note the circumstances of the pandemic before making her decision, "in which I said, we're not releasing everybody. We're not ..
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