On Monday, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) announced that he would vote to approve Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the vacant Supreme Court (SCOTUS) seat. Kelly said that he supported all of Jackson’s record on case rulings, which likely included the slew of controversial criminal judgments that gave lenient sentencing to violent criminals.
“After speaking with Judge Jackson and reviewing her record and approach to deciding cases, I believe her to be very well qualified and having demonstrated a commitment to fairly interpret and uphold the Constitution on our nation’s highest court,” said Kelly.
After meeting with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, it is clear that she has achieved incredible success throughout her legal career while demonstrating a commitment to ensuring all Americans have a fair shot at justice.
On Sunday, a day before Kelly’s announcement, the New York Post reported that one of the convicted child rapists who’d received lowered sentencing twice from Jackson had been arrested for assault. Sex offender Leo Weekes received one year in prison with credit for time served for failing to register as a sex offender, a classification he earned for raping his 13-year-old niece four years earlier. Jackson’s sentence allowed Weekes to be released five months later. The federal guideline minimum for Weekes’ crime would have been two years in prison. A year later, Weekes was arrested for the attempted sexual assault of his sister-in-law, though she dropped the charges; prosecutors claimed that Weekes paid her off. Several years later, Weekes was back in court for failing to register as a sex offender and violating multiple stipulations of his probation, again coming before Jackson. Again, Jackson gave Weekes a punishment lower than what the guidelines suggested: a 24-month sentence overlapping with his punishment for the previous assault conviction.
As the New York Post report noted, the Weekes case was not included among the seven cases given to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration. The requested cases were to clarify Jackson’s habit of sentencing below federal guidelines and the requests of prosecutors.
A day prior, the New York Post also broke the story that Jackson gave lenient sentencing to those convicted of multiple counts of child torture during hearings on eight child porn cases. For those cases, Jackson argued against applying recommended sentencing because she disagreed with the relevance, severity, and logic of child pornography law. Like with Weekes, Jackson reduced one defendant’s original sentence of 60 months, the mandatory minimum that fell under the average sentence of 81 months for similar cases, by giving him credit for time served, thereby reducing his sentence to 38 months.
To another defendant last year charged with child porn distribution, Jackson expressed sympathy and called family members’ letters portraying the defendant in a positive light, “mitigating factors.” Jackson said she wasn’t persuaded by the prosecution’s display of the more “egregious or extreme” child porn distributed by the defendant.
Jackson also advocated for the release of all those imprisoned in Washington, D.C., at the start of the pandemic. She managed to grant several releases to those charged with or convicted of major crimes, such as the member of a fentanyl trafficking ring and a serial bank robber.
Despite this track record, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats portrayed Jackson as tough on crime.
Republican Senators confirmed Judge Thapar, who told a child pornography offender "There [are] much more heinous criminals." But some won't confirm Judge Jackson, who told an offender "your crimes [are] among the most serious criminal offenses that this Court has ever sentenced."
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) April 4, 2022
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
This past week, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) declared opposition to parental consent laws concerning abortions for minors. In remarks given to National Review, Kelly said he wouldn’t be an “arbiter of age,” insisting no age limit exists for when a minor should receive an abortion without parental consent.
“As a parent myself, somebody who has raised two daughters who are now in their mid-20s, I take this very seriously. But ultimately, I feel that young women at a certain age should have the right to make these kinds of decisions with their doctor,” said Kelly. “I’m not going to be the arbiter of an age and a timeline and red line [….] You know, people ask, ‘Is there a red line here?’ No. But I think it’s important for women to be able to make these decisions on their own, and not a bunch of folks in Washington making them for them.”
Kelly also admitted that he didn’t know or believe to be his concern the potential implications of a bill he’d voted for, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), on parental rights enshrined in Arizona’s parental consent law concerning abortions received by minors. Kelly suggested that concerned individuals such as the National Review reporter pose that question to Capitol Hill researchers.
“I think that’s something that you could, you know, reach out to the Congressional Research [Service] folks and figure out,” said Kelly.
Although Kelly argued that no age limit exists for when a minor no longer needs parental consent to receive an abortion, he’s argued that abortion on demand at any time in gestation, or “reproductive rights,” should be codified, effectively nullifying all state laws on abortion.
For almost 50 years, Roe v. Wade has guaranteed abortion access — and that can't change now.
I've co-sponsored the Women's Health Protection Act because we need to codify reproductive rights into law.
According to OpenSecrets, Planned Parenthood endorsed Kelly and donated nearly $10,000 to his campaign — the most they offered candidates’ campaigns. After his election, the Arizona political action arm of the national organization celebrated him.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) championed their work to mitigate the border crisis Monday, highlighting several key provisions they secured in Congress’ annual budget bill. Their press release came the same day as the latest data was published by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), reporting nearly 165,000 illegal border crossings in February: the highest number for that month since 2000. The record high complements the record 154,000 illegal crossings in January. Those numbers fall in line with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) prediction at the onset of this year that the border crisis would worsen throughout 2022.
None of their provisions included finishing the border wall. As AZ Free News reported last month, the Arizona legislature passed two separate bills to finish the border wall, allocating hundreds of millions to cover the remaining 17 miles. The House and Senate must consider the bills passed by the other before they will go before the governor.
Additionally, suggestions by Governor Doug Ducey presented in draft legislation for Sinema and Kelly were recognized and ignored in part. Ducey’s legislation called for border wall completion, physical barriers, and virtual surveillance; requirement that asylum seekers who have traveled through another country attempt to claim asylum in that country; requirement for asylum seekers to claim asylum at a port of entry; an increase in immigration judges; additional funding for local law enforcement and humanitarian efforts; and a clear declaration by the federal government that the borders aren’t open for immigration except through a port of entry and legal means.
Sinema and Kelly’s acquisitions that fulfilled Ducey’s requests were additional funding for local law enforcement and humanitarian efforts, as well as border security technology which includes virtual surveillance. In addition to their other border infrastructure investments, Sinema and Kelly secured over $2.3 billion.
Sinema emphasized that the billions would allow not only American citizens to be kept safe, but to ensure that the illegal immigrants receive fair and humane treatment.
“These critical resources will help secure the border through improved technology and additional personnel, manage the flow of migrants to keep Arizona communities safe, and provide Arizona nonprofits and DHS the resources needed to ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely,” said Sinema.
Kelly alluded that there wasn’t a guarantee that further border crisis-related burdens wouldn’t befall Arizona in the future.
“The crisis at the border continues to put a strain on our communities and law enforcement as they work to maintain a safe and orderly process. It’s critical that we are bringing needed technology, personnel, and other resources to improve border security,” said Kelly. “I’ll keep working with my Republican and Democratic colleagues in the Senate and continue pushing the Biden administration to ensure Arizona does not bear the cost of this crisis.”
From 2000 to 2006, the total number of illegal crossings at all borders hovered around one million. Then, from 2007 to 2011, that number dropped steadily from under 900,000 to 340,000. The number of crossings picked up slightly and fluctuated between 300,000 to 500,000 from 2012 to 2018. A sharp spike of 860,000 occurred in 2019, before petering off to 405,000 in 2020.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
According to the federal government, the unprecedented border crisis plaguing Arizona will likely only get worse this year. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials informedReuters that they’re preparing for up to 9,000 border arrests a day, topping last year’s daily average which was nearly 3,000 less apprehensions.
It is unclear how Border Patrol will handle the additional onslaught of illegal immigrants, as detention centers are already far overwhelmed. Last December, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported record numbers of illegal immigrant encounters.
Governor Doug Ducey is attempting to sway federal lawmakers to increase border security personnel and resources to combat the current and now forecasted additional onslaught of illegal immigrants. As AZ Free News reported, a majority of Arizona law enforcement supports Ducey’s proposal to greatly increase border security. The governor’s office coordinated with other state leaders in drafting the federal legislation in the hopes that Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) will show their support.
Kelly may not be much help; he’s been the least outspoken on the border crisis of the two senators.
Even if legislation were to get past the House and Senate, President Joe Biden may object to the legislation. The last time that Biden posted about the border was in September; however, he wasn’t addressing the crisis. Biden chose to speak out about the treatment of the illegal Haitian immigrants, threatening investigation over debunked claims that border agents were whipping the aliens.
I'm heartbroken by the treatment of Haitian migrants at our border — and I acknowledge it is only the latest of many historic indignities that Haitians have faced. We will continue to offer assistance and investigate wrongdoing. I remain committed, as ever, to Haiti's future. pic.twitter.com/Cu1TlqF4EA
That isn’t to say the president hasn’t addressed issues of the border privately. Again, however, his concerns don’t reflect the crisis-level inundation of illegal immigrants, but instead their reception by the states. CNN claimed in a report this week that it obtained internal documents in which the Biden Administration threatened legal action against the state of Florida for threatening to revoke licenses to the shelters holding unaccompanied migrant children. Florida’s general counsel, Ryan Newman, claimed that the Biden Administration’s handling of the children was tantamount to a “human trafficking scheme.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) has decided that he supports ending the filibuster by modifying it through a “talking filibuster,” which would require senators to speak on the floor to block legislation instead of the traditional filibuster requiring 60 votes to proceed to a final vote.
In a statement, Kelly compared the Senate to NASA, implying that the decisive action of the bare majority should outweigh the hesitations of the minority. It is unclear whether Kelly considered the 1986 Challenger explosion before he offered that comparison to justify his decision — the Challenger rocket did make it off the launchpad, but only survived for 73 seconds before exploding and killing the seven passengers on board.
It is also unclear whether Kelly considered the Biden Administration’s botched withdrawal efforts from Afghanistan late last summer, which caused the deaths of 13 service members at the Kabul Airport.
“As an astronaut and a combat veteran, I can tell you that if NASA or the Navy functioned like the United States Senate, we would never get the rocket off the launchpad and in combat we’d never complete the mission,” said Kelly. “Arizonans deserve a Senate that is more responsive to the challenges facing our country, which is why I’ve spoken with Arizonans and my Republican and Democratic colleagues about their views on what can be done to make this place work better. I’ve considered what rules changes would mean not just today, but years down the road, for both parties and all Arizonans.”
Kelly also asserted that modifying the filibuster was necessary because the country needed to protect mail-in voting and thwart dark money’s influence in elections.
“If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote,” said Kelly. “Protecting the vote-by-mail system used by a majority of Arizonans and getting dark money out of our elections is too important to let fall victim to Washington dysfunction.”
If NASA functioned like the United States Senate, they would never get the rocket off the launchpad.
State Representative Travis Grantham (R-Gilbert) criticized Kelly’s sudden, hard show of partisanship given the senator’s history of prudence.
“And just like that, Senator Mark Kelly shows his true tyrannical beliefs and destroys any long term future he has representing the people of the great state of Arizona,” wrote Grantham. “For a man with such an amazing service record, what a shameful display of partisanship.”
And just like that, Senator Mark Kelly shows his true tyrannical beliefs and destroys any long term future he has representing the people of the great state of Arizona.
For a man with such an amazing service record, what a shameful display of partisanship. https://t.co/3sYTrpbe0z
Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) said they won’t support weakening the filibuster. Last week, Sinema explained in a 20-minute floor speech that scrapping the filibuster wasn’t a “lasting solution” but rather mere partisanship. She described the true issue at hand as the “descending spiral of division” destroying our country.
Sinema Delivers Senate Floor Remarks on Voting Rights, America's Divisions, and the U.S. Senate https://t.co/72zAFWDPjO
