March 23, 2022
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) addressed President Joe Bidenâs Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksonâs comments to a âcareer criminalâ drug âkingpinâ in 2018, in which she stated that she âshared his frustrationâ with regards to not being able to give him a lighter sentence, adding, âAnd for this, I am sorry.â

âKeith Young was a career criminal who had previously been convicted of trafficking cocaine,â Cotton explained during day two of Judge Jacksonâs Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
The senator elaborated:
In 2017, he was running a drug business in his house where his children lived, and was found with two one kilogram bricks of heroin, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, along with a gun, ammunition, thousands of dollars in cash, and equipment to cut and package heroin for retail sale. The drug lab also confirmed that there was fentanyl in both bricks of heroin. And in one of the two bricks there was actually more fentanyl than there was heroin.
At the D.C. jail awaiting trial, Young bragged about his arrest, and about how he was a âkingpin.â Those were his words, not mine. âKingpin.â He was even recorded calling his wife and brother to give them instructions on collecting drug money from people for him.
Cotton went on to say that due to Youngâs criminal history, âhe faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years.â
âYou did not seem to like that, judge,â Cotton told Jackson. âIn fact, at his sentencing, you said that you âshared his frustrationâ that you couldnât give him a lighter sentence.â
âI was shocked to see this in the transcript,â the senator continued. âI was also shocked that you apologized to this drug kingpin for having to follow the law.â
âYou literally said that you didnât think 20 years was fair,â Cotton said. âThis is the quote: âAnd for this, I am sorry, mostly because I believe in second chances.â You apologized to this career criminal, a drug kingpin, in his own words. He was not some low-level, first time drug offender who made a bad choice.â
Cotton mentioned Jacksonâs comments at Youngâs 2018 sentencing on Tuesday, during her confirmation hearing, where the judge also would not answer the senatorâs question regarding whether she believed the U.S. should strengthen âsentences for child pornographers.â
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
SOURCE: Breitbart
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