Durbin swats back at Josh Hawley over attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson's record on sex offenders, even using the National Review to make his point

• Sen. Dick Durbin swiped at Sen. Josh Hawley to start Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing.
• Hawley has suggested Jackson has a "soft" record when it comes to child sex crimes.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin kicked off Monday's historic Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson by taking a thinly-veiled swipe at Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.

Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, went after Hawley over the Missouri senator's recent claim on Twitter that he'd "noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jackson's treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children."

"These baseless charges are unfair. A conservative National Review columnist called claims brought by one of my colleagues, 'meritless to the point of demagoguery," Durbin said in his opening statement. "They fly in the face of pledges my colleagues made that they would approach your nomination with civility and respect."

Durbin did not name Hawley directly, but it was the freshman Republican who last week first brought up allegations that Jackson had a weak record when it came to protecting children. As Durbin pointed out, multiple independent fact checks from The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and ABC News have all found his claims to be misleading and devoid of context.

The Illinois senator also pointed out that Andrew McCarthy, a columnist for the conservative National Review who opposes Jackson's confirmation, has also taken issue with Hawley's remarks.

"The implication that she has a soft spot for 'sex offenders' who 'prey on children' because she argued against a severe mandatory-minimum prison sentence for the receipt and distribution of pornographic images is a smear," McCarthy wrote.

Hawley and his staff have refused to back down.

"Judge Jackson has yet to address her alarming record on child porn offenders," Hawley wrote on Twitter over the weekend in response to The Post's fact check that award him three Pinocchios. "But rather than ask her questions, the Washington Post is regurgitating White House talking points. Their "fact check" questions & my answers below. Now go ask the person nominated for the Supreme Court."

During his statement at the hearing on Monday, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina came to Hawley's defense. Graham had supported another rumored contender for the nomination, South Carolina federal district judge J. Michelle Childs. Graham said Hawley's accusations against Jackson are "fair game" and he should question her over them.

Other Republicans on the committee, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, have signaled they intend to bring up Jackson's sentencing record during the hearings.

This is the fourth time Jackson has faced Senate confirmation hearings. She's been approved to her past positions on a bipartisan basis. Less than a year ago, Graham, along with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted for Jackson's confirmation to her current seat on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

Senators that sit on the Judiciary Committee, including Hawley, will begin questioning President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday. If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court.