Biden First Circuit Pick Grilled on Child Abuse Case Sentences

Senate Judiciary Republicans questioned a First Circuit nominee on her sentencing in cases involving abuse against children.

Julia Lipez, a state court judge in Maine nominated for a federal appellate seat in the state, drew ire from the panel’s GOP minority for a case she presided over that involved sexual abuse against two minors, and another case in which a mother was charged with exposing her 14-month-old child to fentanyl in the family’s home.

“You have a long pattern of sentencing criminal defendants to egregiously light sentences,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said to Lipez during the Thursday hearing.

Republicans scrutinized her decision to suspend half of a 12-year sentence for a 45-year-old man who was charged with sexually abusing a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old child. Instead, Lipez sentenced the defendant to six years in prison, with four years of probation upon release.

The GOP members, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the panel’s top Republican, also questioned Lipez on her decision to suspend six years of a 10-year sentence for a mother who allowed drug trafficking operations to occur in the home, leading to the fentanyl exposure-related death of her child. The mother was ultimately sentenced to four years in prison, and six years of probation.

Republicans further criticized her conclusion that the mother acted with “criminal negligence” instead of “recklessness,” which would have carried a higher sentence. A manslaughter charge under Maine law carries a possible sentence of up to 30 years.

Lipez in her responses to Republicans and in an exchange with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), defended her decisions, stating that the only way to impose state supervision upon release is to suspend part of their sentence.

“In every case, I listen carefully to the parties, to the victims if it’s a crime involving victims, and in many cases I’ve imposed sentences that the state has asked for,” Lipez said. “I view each case on its own and impose a sentence dictated by the evidence and the statutory factors.”

Sixth Circuit

Republicans similarly scrutinized President Joe Biden’s nominee to a Tennessee seat on the Sixth Circuit over her past affiliations with progressive groups.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Cruz accused Karla Campbell, a labor lawyer, of providing misleading answers regarding her involvement with a Nashville workers’ rights non-profit, Workers’ Dignity, which Republicans say holds radical views about immigration, the police, and labor.

“Why have you spent a decade as a legal adviser to an openly Communist and Marxist organization?” Cruz asked Lipez.

When asked if she had ever represented the organization, she said she hadn’t. She later said that she had volunteered on the group’s legal advisory board for roughly three years to help them “get set up and get started.” The group was founded in 2010, according to its website.

She also said at the time of her affiliation with the group that they didn’t express the views Republicans characterized as radical. Campbell said she didn’t agree with those views, including abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the police.