MSNBC guest says Josh Hawley is ‘trying to get’ Biden’s SCOTUS nominee ‘killed’ by criticizing her record

According to The Nation's "justice correspondent" Elie Mystal, the GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is "trying to get violence done against" Jackson.

Mystal appeared Saturday on "The Cross Connection," suggesting that Hawley of Missouri had unfairly criticized Jackson's legal opinions with the purported purpose of inciting violence, in addition to public outrage, against Jackson.

The weekend MSNBC guest's conjecture comes as Hawley is expected to question Jackson at the looming Senate hearing on what he sees as the nominee's reported leniency towards sex offenders that lets child predators "off the hook" with "beyond" soft-on-crime treatment both as a judge and policymaker.

"I've noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jackson's treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children..." Hawley said in a lengthy Twitter thread. "I'm concerned that this [is] a record that endangers our children."

Mystal argued Hawley is attempting to pin Jackson as friendly towards predators and thereby creating an actionable threat against the Supreme Court nominee.

"But I don't want to let the Josh Hawley thing lie, because here's where I need the Democrats to step up. Because when they try to smear her, I need the Democrats to get up there and defend her just as vociferously as Lindsey Graham defended alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh," Mystal continued, referring to the left's character assassination of former President Donald Trump's nominee. "I need that level of energy from the Democrats," he said on-air, nodding to when Republican figures jumped to Kavanaugh's defense amid the 2018 smear campaign.

Citing previous hoaxes like the infamous "Pizzagate" conpsiracy that sparked public outrage against ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, Mystal proposed that the label could draw a violent reaction from certain audiences. More than that, he argued that Senator Hawley had knowingly applied that label.

"What Josh Hawley is doing when he tries to do this—is he's trying to get her killed. He is trying to get violence done against a Supreme Court nominee," Mystal said. "And we know this because when these people go off, making their ridiculous claims about child pornography, we know some of their people show up violently."

Mystal argued that this line of questioning is not only unfounded but dangerous to Jackson's well-being: "So like, that's where this stuff is coming from, and that's — so you need to know where it's coming from, and Democrats need to know how to defend her from this stuff instead of letting her, leaving her out there on her own."

"Yes, absolutely. You're right," agreed Cross. "Thank you for that."

Mystal declared that Jackson "is going to be confirmed" and "going to be well-liked," urging Republicans to "go back" to "crying about gas prices" amid soaring inflation and "whatever other thing counts as a Republican platform these days." He also cited the Hunter Biden laptop story among GOP talking points.

Hawley's concerns stem as far back as a Harvard Law Review piece authored by Jackson in which she had argued that the criminal justice system is "unfair" in its punitive measures imposed on convicted sex offenders, pointing to state-level preventative requirements such as a public registry and alerting neighbors.

States are enacting a social punishment of their own—one that went beyond the verdict handed down by a judge, Jackson argued in the unsigned "Note."

"In the current climate of fear, hatred, and revenge associated with the release of convicted sex criminals, courts must be especially atten­tive to legislative enactments that use public health and safety rhetoric to justify procedures that are, in essence, punishment and detention," Jackson wrote in the piece.

Jackson's upcoming Senate confirmation hearing is slated to begin on Monday.