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 ...