Content Warning - Discussion of explicit content of children with regard to sentencing and criminal justice: 31:00 - 56:10.

If you’re anything like us, the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson - and the follow up conversations - were of keen interest as we look ahead to the 2022 midterm elections. Both the theatrics staged by the senators on the committee, and the legitimate questions that managed to sneak out in between, raised some points that we wanted to learn more about. And of course, we had plenty of opinions about what we saw.

What’s in this episode?

• Hot Takes - Was this a foreshadow of the midterms? Should senators be allowed to give speeches? Should the hearings even be televised?
• How does Judge Jackson’s sentencing record line up with common practice? Why might the federal guidelines need adjusting?
• What is a judicial philosophy, and what is Judge Jackson’s?
• Good News: Gov. Spencer Cox stands up for trans kids in Utah.

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!