REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Who is Lucas Cane? Ketanji Brown Jackson's record questioned after she gave man with 6,500 child porn images MINIMUM sentence

Republicans claim the White House didn't vet Supreme Court nominee properly after raising an issue with the sentence for Cane in 2021
UPDATED APR 4, 2022
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) with an insert of Lucas Cane (Macomb Public Schools)
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) with an insert of Lucas Cane (Macomb Public Schools)

In a bid to derail Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court nomination, Republicans have now latched onto a sentence she handed down to a man convicted of hoarding child pornography in 2021. The GOP claimed the White House "intentionally" left out the details of the verdict, and now says it is a key reason to not approve Jackson's elevation to the Supreme Court of the United States.

If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman on the SCOTUS, but the moment has been a long-drawn-out battle between Republicans and Democrats. During Senate confirmation hearings, the GOP also questioned Jackson over her decision to reduce the sentence of Wesley Hawkins to three months. Others, like Senator Ted Cruz, have also picked up on Jackson's race, calling it "offensive". 

RELATED ARTICLES

'Did she just admit gender is biological?': Astonishment after Ketanji Jackson says she CANNOT define 'woman'

Biden names Ketanji Jackson as SCOTUS pick, slammed for basing it 'on race, not qualifications'

Overall, Jackson's nomination looks like it may not pass, with no Republicans publicly acknowledging they will support her nomination. In fact, they've picked more holes in her case, such as Jackson's verdict for Lucas Cane. 

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson arrives for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2022, in Washington, DC.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Who is Lucas Cane?

In August 2018, the FBI arrested teacher Lucas Cane of Ada, Oklahoma. Cane was a social studies teacher at Macomb Public Schools at the time. He was arrested on charges of distribution of child pornography and conspiracy to distribute child pornography. Little else is known about Cane, whose sentence was overseen by Jackson in 2021. Court documents reveal Cane had in his possession over 6,500 images of "children appearing to be of elementary, middle and high school ages, engaged in sexual acts or posing sexually."  

Despite that appalling number, Jackson sentenced Cane to 60 months in prison, the mandatory minimum, rather than the 84 months recommended by the probation office. Shortly after that, Jackson was elevated to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The verdict was not amongst the many the White House listed in its packet of materials sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing Jackson's confirmation. 

According to Republicans, the Cane case was only sent over on March 25, after the confirmation hearings had ended. That delay is what the GOP is now picking on, claiming that "the White House either didn't thoroughly vet the nominee or were aware of the record and intentionally left it out." 

U.S. President Joe Biden looks on as Ketanji Brown Jackson delivers brief remarks as his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court on February 25, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Furious Republicans slam White House

"Not only does this case, which Judge Jackson left off her list of child abuse cases, undercut her argument that she followed the probation office’s recommended sentences, but it also underscores the perils of moving too quickly in the vetting process," one aide told Fox News. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted, "The fact that cases regarding child pornography sentencing were left off the list of child abuse cases provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee requires more scrutiny, not less."



 

Senator Josh Hawley also weighed in, telling Fox, "they hid it from the public despite knowing Judge Jackson gives lenient sentences to criminals. The White House is still refusing to be transparent about Judge Jackson's record." Even during her confirmation hearings, Jackson's sentencing record on child pornography cases became the GOP's main attack line. For its part, the White House claims the omission of the Cane case from the original packet was entirely in error, but it's a line the GOP isn't buying. 

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW