Former federal prosecutors from Florida support Jackson, praise public defender work
While Republicans portray Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as soft on crime, 48 former federal prosecutors from Florida have written a letter to top senators in support of her confirmation.
Jackson would be the first Black woman, first Floridian and first justice with experience as a public defender if confirmed by the full Senate.
Jackson has the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, but during her confirmation hearings Republican lawmakers have scrutinized her experience as a defense attorney and argued as a judge she handed down sentences in criminal cases that were overly lenient.
Former federal prosecutors from Florida rebutted that criticism in a Tuesday letter to Senate leaders of both parties, which was obtained by the Herald.
“We know from our prior prosecutorial work that public defenders not only play a key role in advocating for individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, but also for entire communities and justice on a broad scale. Judge Jackson’s keen understanding of the criminal justice system will bring a unique and necessary perspective to the court,” the attorneys said.
The letter was signed by three former U.S. attorneys for the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami, who served during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations: Kendall Coffey, Marcos Daniel Jiménez and Wilfredo “Willy” Ferrer, who cumulatively served 13 years as the top federal law enforcement official in South Florida.
The letter was also signed by 45 former assistant U.S. attorneys, mostly from the Southern District, who collectively handled federal criminal cases in the state from the 1960s through 2021.
In addition to defending Jackson’s experience as an attorney and judge, the letter touts her perspective as a Floridian.
The bulk of Jackson’s legal career has been in Washington, D.C., including her two years as a federal public defender from 2005 to 2007, but she spent most of her childhood in Miami and has repeatedly referred to Florida as her home state during the hearings.
“Judge Jackson grew up in Miami, Florida, and stands to bring a distinct perspective to the court from her upbringing. Judge Jackson attended Miami Palmetto Senior High, where she was class president in 1988 and her love of the law first developed,” states the letter, which refers to her mother Ellery Brown’s tenure as principal for the New World School of the Arts and her father Johnny Brown’s service as chief attorney for the Miami-Dade School Board.
The endorsement of the judge was sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
“Through her parents, as attested to in her own life, Judge Jackson knows what it means to come from a family of service and sacrifice. Moreover, she knows what it means to be a part of the calling of justice, which we all hold so dear,” the letter states. “Though prosecutors and public defenders stand on opposite sides of the courtroom, we all work towards the same goals: fairness, integrity, and evenhandedness.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 11:06 AM.
