McFeely blog: U.S. senator asks whether N.D. Judge Ralph …

FARGO A North Dakota federal judge appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump is getting attention in the confirmation hearing of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and not for reasons he'd prefer.

Judge Ralph Erickson of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was mentioned in Brown's confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii. Hirono cited a news report that included Erickson among Trump appointees to the judiciary who sentenced child pornography offenders to prison terms below the federal recommendations.

This was Hirono's way of hitting back at Republicans for accusing Jackson of being soft on crime because of her sentencing history with child porn offenders.

Erickson was nominated to his current position in 2017 by Trump and confirmed with a 95-1 vote in the Senate. Before joining the Eighth Circuit, Erickson was a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. President George W. Bush nominated Erickson for that position and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2003.

Among the topics Jackson was grilled about by Republicans during her confirmation hearings this week was sentencing of some child porn offenders. Jackson sentenced several offenders to less than the federally recommened guideline.

Her history was brought to light by GOP Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who accused Jackson of having a "long record" of letting child pornography offenders "off the hook" as a U.S. District Court judge.

Democrats have pushed back at Republicans' depiction of Jackson, saying her record is being taken out of context and that Republican senators have voted multiple times for federal judges who sentenced child porn offenders to less than federally recommended guidelines.

Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters

An ABC News story cited Erickson, who sentenced defendants in at least 11 child porn cases to prison terms below the recommendation.

In questioning Jackson, Hirono referenced Erickson's record in child porn cases and asked Jackson, "Does that surprise you?"

"It does not, Senator," Jackson replied.

"I don't know if you know Judge Erickson," Hirono said. "But do you have any reason to believe he is soft on child pornography based on these sentences?"

Jackson replied: "I don't have any reason to believe that."

"Do you think my Republican colleagues are soft on child pornography just because they voted for Judge Erickson to become a federal appellate judge even after he issued these 11 sentences?" Hirono asked.

"Senator, I'm not in a position to evaluate whether your colleagues are soft on crime because of their votes. I have no reason to believe that," Jackson answered.

They voted for this person, but I think it would probably be quite unfair to characterize him as being soft on child pornography," Hirono replied, before moving onto another Trump-appointed judge who sentenced below recommended guidelines on child porn.

The point of Hirono's questioning, of course, was to highlight Republican hypocrisy in painting Jackson as soft on child porn while overlooking Republican-appointed judges for similar sentencing histories. Jackson would be Democratic President Joe Biden's first appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The New York Times reported that Erickson imposed shorter sentences than the prosecutor's recommendations in nine cases involving child sex abuse imagery between 2009 and 2017. Those sentences averaged being 19% lower than the recommended guidelines.

"In the case with the greatest discrepancy in which a 68-year-old man pleaded guilty to possessing and transporting such illicit materials prosecutors asked for 151 months and Judge Erickson imposed a 96-month sentence," the Times reported.

Erickson is known as a conservative who most recently made national headlines in January when he accused women of participating in "the neo-eugenics movement" when they terminate a pregnancy because of Down syndrome.

Erickson also urged the Supreme Court to authorize states to outlaw abortion.

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McFeely blog: U.S. senator asks whether N.D. Judge Ralph ...