Democrat Sen. Ossoff's vote allows blocking appointment of Biden-nominated judge who facilitated trans rapist's entry into women's prison

The Senate Judiciary Committee blocked the appointment of Judge Sarah Netburn to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A vote by Democratic lawmakerJon Ossoff tipped the balance (10-11) so that the woman responsible for facilitating the admission of a trans rapist to a women's prison could not access the post for which she had been nominated by the Biden Administration. This is the first - and only time so far that a member of this commission has voted "no" on a candidate nominated by the current president.

Netburn overruled prison officials' objections.

In August 2022, Netburn recommended the transfer of inmate William McClain, who goes by the name July Justine Shelby after coming out as trans, to a women's prison. Several federal prison officials raised objections noting that such a move would be "traumatizing and possibly dangerous" given the inmate's history of sex crimes against women, but the judge rejected their arguments, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

Senator Ted Cruz was especially belligerent during the proceedings to evaluate the fitness of Biden's proposed judge, going so far as to blast the nominee, "So you took a six-foot serial rapist, serial child rapist, with male genitalia, who said 'You know, I'd like to be in a women's prison,' and your answer was, ‘That sounds great to me'" as reported by The Dailly Caller.

In her defense, Netburn claimed that, "I have never studied biology and therefore am not qualified to answer this question." Moreover, she was supported by Committee Chairman Dick Durbin that the nominee, as a magistrate judge, had authority only to recommend the inmate's transfer to a women's prison, and it was a district judge who made the final decision.