Maine prosecutors, one Harvard Law School alumna, one Republican, back Jackson for Supreme Court - WMTW Portland
PORTLAND, Maine —
Among the Maine supporters of the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are four district attorneys — the chief prosecutors in nine of the state’s sixteen counties.
One is Meaghan Maloney, a Democrat, the district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties whose support is rooted in their interactions three decades ago, when they attended Harvard Law School at the same time.
Maloney, class of 1997, was one year behind Jackson, class of 1996.
Maloney said, “She’s someone who treated everybody with respect and kindness.”
Jackson was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, while Maloney worked on the less celebrated Harvard Journal on Legislation.
Maloney said, “Her reputation was someone who had been chosen for the Harvard Law Review, very intelligent, but also and what was key to me, very approachable. So, she was somebody I could go to for questions and not be made to feel like I was bothering her."
Later, after graduating, Maloney and Jackson each worked at different times in the Washington, D.C., public defender's office.
Maloney said, "Being an attorney with hands-on, face-to-face contact with victims and defendants gives you a perspective that nothing else can. It gives you a perspective that a book cannot provide."
Penobscot and Piscataquis counties District Attorney Marianne Lynch is also a former defense attorney and backs Jackson.
Lynch said, "As somebody in this field, I love having someone who's had criminal experience and named to the Court."
Lynch is a Republican but doesn't look at the nomination through a partisan lens.
"I think really looking at the total person, her total career, her total experience,” Lynch said, “Just remarkable academic and professional credentials. We'd be lucky to have her."
Maloney was surprised by senators who’ve depicted the judge as soft on crime.
Maloney said, "She is being attacked in areas where I see her as the strongest – she has given some incredibly strong sentences, sentences far higher than I have seen any Maine judge give."
Lynch said Jackson’s grueling confirmation hearings were another proving ground.
Lynch said, “The poise that she presented with and the restraint further reinforced the issue that she is the right person, that she has the judicial temperament. That was quite a test.”
The two other Maine district attorneys who have endorsed Jackson’s nomination are Jonathan Sahrbeck, district attorney for Cumberland County, and Natasha Irving, district attorney for Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, and Waldo counties.
source: https://www.wmtw.com/article/maine-prosecutors-one-harvard-law-school-alumna-one-republican-back-jackson-for-supreme-court/39532679
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.