Ted Cruz Confronts Judge Over Support For Housing Transgender Inmate In Women's Prison

Well, Judge Netburn, I'm going to continue on this line of questioning. In your court, what matters more, the rights of individuals or your political ideology? I apply the law to the facts. I asked a question. Which matters more? My 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. This case involves a male defendant who raped a nine-year-old boy. Was he guilty of that? Yes, the petitioner pled guilty to that. Okay, so he raped a nine-year-old boy. He also raped a 17-year-old girl. Was he guilty of that? He pled guilty. The petitioner pled guilty to that crime as well. So was he guilty? I hope so, because she pled guilty to it. He was a he when he did this. That's correct. And also criminal deviant conduct, which the record doesn't disclose what that was exactly. Then after serving in prison, Mr. McClain was released for parole, but then violated the terms of parole by having internet and was sent back to prison. One year after being released again, he was convicted of having child pornography. Is that correct? I'm unclear on exactly the time frame that you're at, but the petitioner was convicted of distributing child pornography. Child pornography that was images of adults violently raping children. Abhorrent conduct for which there are real victims. And this individual, six foot two, biologically a man, a minute ago you said that when this man decided that he was a she, you said this individual was, quote, I wrote it down, sober and entirely a female. That phrase struck me as remarkable. Did this individual have male genitalia? I think what I said, or at least what I... That is a verbatim quote. Entirely a female. Sorry. What I meant to say was hormonally a female. Okay, but that's not entirely. Did this individual have male genitalia? Yes. 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? Is that a question? Yes. The other women in that prison, do they have any rights? Of course. Do they have the right not to have a six foot two man who is a repeat serial rapist put in as their cellmate? Senator Cruz, I considered the facts presented to me, and I reached a decision based on what the law says. I asked you a question. Do they have a right not to have a six foot two man who is a serial rapist put in as their cellmate? Do those women have a right to that? Every person who's incarcerated has the right to be safe in their space. But you didn't think so. You didn't think so. And in fact, I'm going to give some quotes from your order, because Senator Kennedy is right. This is not a judge's order. This is a political activist. By the way, the beginning of your order says, at birth, people are typically assigned a gender. I got to say, that would astonish a lot of Americans. A lot of Americans think you go to the hospital, a baby is born, and you say, congratulations, you have a little boy, a little girl. The assigned a gender, I know you went to Brown, but it sounds like it's in a college faculty lounge. With no bearing on reality, the Bureau of Prison argued what I'm saying right now, that if you put this person in a female prison, there will be a risk of sexual assault to the women. And you know what you did? You said you didn't care about the women. I'm going to quote what you wrote. You wrote, quote, the Bureau of Prison's claimed penalogical interest in protecting female prisoners from sexual violence and trauma. This interest is legitimate, that's kind of you to say, but there are no signs that petitioner is at risk of reoffending. The record is devoid of evidence of incidents of violence or assault during petitioner's incarceration when she was the perpetrator, only the victim. A theoretical risk of sexual assault by the prisoner, without more, cannot support the BOP's position. No evidence, theoretical. Have you dealt, in what universe is someone who is a serial repeat child rapist not at a risk of reoffending? Senator, as I do in every case. I know you've been told to repeat the line, I follow the law. I asked a question. In what universe is someone who is a serial repeat child rapist not at risk of reoffending? Sir, I looked at the facts that were before me in this case. All of the evidence, including the statements of every warden who had supervised this petitioner. You also wrote, the BOP also posits that permitting petitioner to live among women will be traumatizing and possibly dangerous to them. This concern is overblown. I have to say, if I were the father of one of those women, and you decided that my daughter's cellmate was going to be a six foot two man who over and over and over again committed violent sexual assault, I would say the entire justice system is absurd and it is clear on your record, your political ideology matters a heck of a lot more than the rights of those women that you endangered. I think you're a radical and I think you have no business being a judge.