WASHINGTON —

       Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, hit back Tuesday against Republican claims that she was lenient toward criminal defendants, including those convicted of possessing child pornography.

       She also promised to serve as an “even-handed” justice who would be independent and impartial.

       In response to questions from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jackson described child pornography as a “sickening and egregious crime” that she had to deal with regularly as a sentencing judge.

       She said that, as a mother with two daughters, she found it disturbing that this sexual abuse of minors circulates on the internet.

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       She rejected the allegation from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that she favored light treatment for these defendants.

       “Nothing could be further from the truth,” she said. During sentencing hearings, she said she made sure “the children’s voices” are heard. She said she not only sent these defendants off to prison but also prohibited them from using computers and the internet for decades.

       She also spoke of her two uncles, who worked as police officers in Miami, and her brother who was a police detective in Baltimore.

       “I have had family members who went on patrol and in the line of fire,” she said. Crime and violence “are not abstract concepts or political slogans to me.”

       Jackson repeatedly declined to give a response on the issue of court-packing, telling lawmakers that the matter is a policy issue that should be left up to Congress.

       Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the panel, noted that retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg both said court-packing is a bad idea.

       “Respectfully, senator, other nominees to the Supreme Court have responded as I will, which is that it is a policy question for Congress,” Jackson said. “And I am particularly mindful of not speaking to policy issues because I am so committed to stay in my lane of the system.”

       Senators on the Judiciary Committee will have 30 minutes each Tuesday, making for a marathon session. There are 22 members, evenly split by party.