Cruz Questions Biden Nominee Who Recommended Moving Transgender Rapist to Women’s Prison

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on July 19, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees on Wednesday about why she recommended that a biologically male prisoner convicted of multiple sex crimes be transferred to an all-female prison.

The Republican lawmaker quizzed U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over her 2022 recommendation that July Justine Shelby—born a biological male named William McLain—be transferred to the women’s prison that same year.

“In your court, what matters more: the rights of individuals or your political ideology?” Mr. Cruz asked during the hearing, to which Judge Netburn responded that she applies “the law to the fact” and that her political ideology “doesn’t matter at all.”

“Okay, so I don’t believe you. And I think this case demonstrates that you are willing to subjugate the rights of individuals to satisfy your political ideology,” Mr. Cruz replied.

Mr. McLain, 60, has previously been convicted in two separate cases of child molestation in Indiana, including one involving a nine-year-old boy and another involving the rape of a 17-year-old girl, court documents show.

He was sentenced to two 18-year terms in state prison to run consecutively, which he served before being released on parole.

However, Mr. McLain later violated the terms of his parole by having internet access in his apartment and was again sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 2015 but sentenced again in 2017 for distributing child abuse pornography, this time spending 15 years in jail.

Judge Recommends Transfer to Female Prison

In 2022, Mr. McLain, who at the time was in the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and designated to a men’s facility, filed a petition seeking to force the BOP to assign him to a women’s prison following a federal conviction on child pornography charges.

He also sought to compel the BOP to provide him with so-called “gender-affirming” surgery.

Judge Netburn subsequently recommended that he be transferred to a women’s prison, noting that Mr. McLain had expressed himself outwardly as a woman for roughly 18 months by “buying herself new clothes, getting hair extensions, wearing jewelry and makeup, and having her nails done.”

She added that the BOP had also violated his Eighth Amendment rights by refusing to transfer him to a women’s facility and that its refusal is “not reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.”

There are “no signs that petitioner is at risk of reoffending,” the judge noted.

Court filings show Mr. McLain was ultimately transferred to a women’s prison.

Speaking during Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Netburn acknowledged the serious nature of Mr. McLain’s convictions but used his preferred pronouns when addressing his crimes.

Convicted Rapist Is ‘Hormonally Female’

She also told Mr. Cruz that the convicted rapist was “hormonally a female” despite having male genitalia when he was transferred to the women’s prison.

“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,’” Mr. Cruz said. “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?” Mr. Cruz asked. ”Do they have the right, not to have a six-foot-two man who is a repeat serial rapist put in as their cellmate?” he continued.

Responding to his questioning, the judge acknowledged that female prisoners do have rights.

“Senator Cruz, I considered the facts presented to me and I reached a decision based on what the law is,” Judge Netburn said. “Every person who’s incarcerated has the right to be safe in their space.”

Judge Netburn, who was nominated by President Biden to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, also faced questioning from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) during Wednesday’s hearing over her recommendation to allow the prison transfer for the transgender inmate.

“What planet did you parachute in from?” the Louisiana lawmaker asked.