Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.) is a hard-line drug warrior who reliably resists every attempt to reduce sentences for people convicted of distributing arbitrarily proscribed intoxicants. Cotton even opposed the FIRST STEP Act, a package of modest reforms backed by then-President Donald Trump that passed the House and Senate in 2018 with overwhelming support; he was one of just 12 senators who voted against the bill. So it is not surprising that Cotton took issue with Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's decision to reduce the prison term of Keith Young, a heroin/fentanyl dealer, under a sentencing provision that the FIRST STEP Act broadened.
Here is how the Republican National Committee (RNC) described Cotton's exchange with Jackson regarding Young's case during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday: "Asked if she reached out to any of the victims of a heroin trafficker, Ketanji Brown Jackson dismisses the question by saying 'there were no victims.'" As we'll see, that gloss is highly misleading, and Cotton's question was absurd in this context.
