{"id":1511266,"date":"2022-06-11T21:36:45","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T01:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1511266"},"modified":"2022-06-11T21:37:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T01:37:05","slug":"biden-nominee-cant-say-if-sex-offenders-require-a-minimum-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-nominee-cant-say-if-sex-offenders-require-a-minimum-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Nominee Can&#039;t Say If Sex Offenders Require a Minimum Sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-nominee-cant-say-if-sex-offenders-require-a-minimum-sentence%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1511266&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Meet Laura E. Mate, Joe Biden\u2019s latest nominee for a key position in the administration. Mate had a tough time yesterday answering a policy question from Sen. Josh Hawley about sentencing minimums, which might be a\u00a0<em>wee<\/em> problem considering that Biden appointed her to the Sentencing Commission. Hawley had found an earlier signed letter from Mate and others in 2013 opposing minimum sentencing requirements altogether, including for those guilty of sex crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly, however, Mate claimed she no longer had\u00a0<em>any\u00a0<\/em>position on minimum sentence requirements. <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/06\/08\/josh-hawley-presses-biden-judicial-nominee-laura-mate-rape-mandatory-minimums-sentencing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">That seemed strange to Hawley<\/a>, considering the job she\u2019s supposed to fill (via Duane Patterson):<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<blockquote>\n<p>Hawley cited nominee Laura Mate calling for the commission to change its guidelines to allow judges to \u201cdepart\u201d from mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. He asked if there is any crime, namely rape, in which a mandatory minimum should be implemented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy understanding is this body decides whether there are mandatory minimums and as a commissioner, my job would be\u2014\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou make recommendations, I\u2019m asking you if you think there\u2019s any crime \u2014 rape \u2014 in which there ought to be a mandatory minimum. Because you said earlier there shouldn\u2019t be, I\u2019m astounded by that,\u201d Hawley said.<\/p>\n<p>Mate said she would make an \u201cinformed\u201d recommendation on mandatory minimums after consulting with her colleagues. The senator called her alleged position \u201cradical\u201d and suggested that her nomination is a reflection on the Biden administration\u2019s stance on crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can I make an informed judgement on voting for you if you won\u2019t tell me what your positions are?\u201d the senator asked. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve changed them or not. It sounds like you have changed them. You signed a letter, you took, very frankly, radical policy positions and now you won\u2019t answer me, what am I to draw from that?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is yet another case of Biden and his team not reading the room. One would think that the efforts to recall progressive \u201cdecarceration\u201d prosecutors like Chesa Boudin and George Gasc\u00f3n would have caused the White House to rethink Mate\u2019s nomination. The vaulting of crime back to the top few issues driving voters is not a new phenomenon, after all, and even the national media has begun to point out how much Democrats have lost the public on this issue. The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/06\/08\/crime-midterms-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">makes that point again today<\/a>, in fact:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Lee\u2019s pledge of support for law enforcement is being replicated across the country as Democratic lawmakers up and down the ballot scramble to assure voters that they\u2019re not soft on crime. It\u2019s a sea change from two years ago when, amid the height of racial justice protests, some leaders on the left began to rethink their approach to criminal justice.<\/p>\n<p>Fears that Democrats are losing ground on crime were compounded by Tuesday primary results, which included the recall of San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin, whom voters saw as overly lenient toward criminals. In the Los Angeles mayor\u2019s race, billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso, a former Republican who ran as a Democrat and campaigned on a message of improving quality of life, was projected to go to a runoff with onetime favorite Rep. Karen Bass (D). \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Homicide rates in cities across the country have soared over the past two years, with officials blaming a combination of pandemic-related changes to the criminal justice system and in some places new, more lenient policing policies.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Democratic candidates across the country are showcasing a tougher approach on crime. In D.C., a liberal haven with primaries later this month, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is running on her record of bolstering police in schools. \u201cYou have to have a mayor who\u2019s willing to make tough calls and not just go along with trendy words of the day,\u201d Bowser said in a recent debate where another Democratic candidate also sought a tough-on-crime mantle.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And yet, here\u2019s Biden offering up a progressive activist for the Sentencing Commission with a track record focusing on decarceration even for sex offenders. And rather than endorse minimum sentencing, Mate tries to pull a Ginsburg Rule non-response, which Hawley immediately skewers. He reminded Mate that she was being appointed to a policy position, not the federal bench, and that the Senate had a right to know what policies she planned to pursue on the commission. Mate stonewalled, however, and never did answer the question.<\/p>\n<p>All this proves is that Biden\u2019s not serious about crime, and seriously disconnected from the American public on the issue. Will Mate win her confirmation vote? If Kamala Harris has to cast a tie-breaker to get her onto the Sentencing Commission, Republicans should,\u00a0<em>ahem<\/em>, \u201cpounce\u201d all over it. One has to wonder whether Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, or the increasing number of vulnerable Senate Democrats in this cycle will want to go on record supporting Mate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet Laura E. Mate, Joe Biden\u2019s latest nominee for a key position in the administration. Mate had a tough time yesterday answering a policy question from Sen. Josh Hawley about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}