Victory! WoLF Blocks Biden Judicial Nominee Judge Netburn

On April 30th, President Biden nominated the Hon. Judge Sarah Netburn, a New York magistrate judge for 12 years, to be confirmed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Her lifetime nomination posed a severe threat to the safety of women and girls in custody due to her staunch support for “gender identity” self-ID prison policies.

Judge Netburn’s nomination has failed in committee. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) courageously broke party ranks to vote against her lifetime confirmation. Sen. Ossoff was the only Democrat to join Republicans’ opposition - and he is the first Democratic senator to vote against a Biden nominee in committee.

Before the nomination hearing on May 22nd, an avalanche of WoLF supporters contacted the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Chief Counsels for Nomination and expressed serious concerns about her nomination for a lifetime appointment. This victory is thanks to those dedicated WoLF supporters who took the time to contact the Senate Judiciary Committee this past May!

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the Judiciary Committee “received almost a hundred letters - from liberals - opposing Judge Netburn’s activism.” The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Minority Chief Counsel for Nominations told WoLF that each letter received would be entered into the congressional record - and that “the vast majority” of those letters were from individuals affiliated with WoLF!

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, “Given the avalanche of letters this committee has received from women’s groups and female inmates, I’m not the only person with concerns.” He continued, “In California, a women’s group sued the Department of Corrections after a transgender prisoner raped two women, impregnating one of them,” referencing WoLF’s lawsuit Chandler v. CDCR.

Sen. Cruz also read aloud Amie Ichikawa’s testimony as a former inmate to the Senate Judiciary Committee, ”Women, including incarcerated women, shouldn’t be erased as a matter of law to accommodate the interests of men. One person’s rights cannot come at the cost of another’s.”

Amie Ichikawa of Woman II Woman told WoLF:

Today’s win was by one vote. It’s still a win, but it was dangerously close. Now, more than ever, we need to do everything we can to make sure our elected officials fully understand that women’s rights do not end when a woman is sentenced to prison.

JUDGE NETBURN’S NOMINATION HEARING 

In her testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked, “Is it possible to determine a person’s sex by only analyzing their chromosomes?” Netburn replied, “I have never studied biology and therefore, I am unqualified to answer this question.”

During Judge Netburn’s hearing, Sen. Cruz said “So you took a six-foot-two serial rapist. Serial child rapist with male genitalia. And he said, you know, I’d like to be in a women’s prison. And your answer was, ‘That sounds great to me.’ Let me ask you something. The other women in that prison, do they have any rights?” Netburn responded, “I considered the facts presented to me, and I reached a decision.”

Prisons are separated by sex to keep women safe from male violence; allowing men to “self-identify” into women’s prisons violates the internationally recognized rights of prisoners, exposing them to an increased risk of sexualized violence.

BACKGROUND ON JUDGE SARAH NETBURN

In 2022, Judge Netburn ordered the controversial transfer of an incarcerated 6’2” male child rapist, William McClain, to a federal women’s prison - overturning the Federal Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) decision.

In 1994, McClain was convicted and sentenced to 18 years for molesting a 9-year-old boy and raping a 17-year-old girl. He served another six years for parole violations. After his release, McClain began to take cross-sex hormones and started to identify as “July Justine Shelby.” In 2016, McClain was arrested for distributing child sexual abuse content and sentenced to 15 years in Otisville Federal Correctional Institution - a men’s facility. In 2020, McClain appealed to the BOP for a transfer to a women’s facility; the BOP opposed his transfer due to concerns that he would pose a threat to the women in custody.

In a 48-page opinion, Netburn defended her decision, saying the BOP’s decision was “overblown” and “based on bias and fear and not evidence.” She dismissed their concern that “[McClain] will hurt someone” as “hypothetical.” Netburn concluded that “[the] BOP has violated [McClain’s] Eighth Amendment rights by refusing to transfer [McClain] to a women’s facility, and that refusal is not reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.”

Based on Judge Netburn’s actions, McClain was transferred to a female federal correctional facility - the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas - where he is currently incarcerated.

Male inmate “July Justine Shelby” is categorized as a female at the Carswell FMC in Fort Worth, TX. He is to be released in September 2029.

On July 10th, the Free Beacon reported that inmate “Shelby” had been placed in administrative segregation for exposing himself to the women in custody:

According to Debra Nizza, a former Carswell inmate released in 2016 who remains in communication with female inmates at Carswell federal women's prison in Texas, an inmate told her that McClain pulled his penis from his pants before a group of female inmates.

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TAKE ACTION!

SEND THANKS TO SEN. JON OSSOFF FOR STANDING FOR WOMEN

Use our simple, customizable form to send a thank-you email to Senator Ossoff for his courageous break from party lines. Thanks to his one vote, one fewer judge like Sarah Netburn will hold a lifetime appointment while violating the constitutional rights of women and girls in custody.

SUPPORT WOMEN’S LIBERATION!

Thanks to the generosity of people like you, WoLF continues to be the leading radical feminist nonprofit fighting “gender identity” in the highest courts and legislatures. Our strategic, nonpartisan feminist resistance continues to be crucial in safeguarding the sex-based rights of women and girls - will you join us at the feminist front lines?

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MORE WOLF NEWS: Women’s Prisons