Republicans Brought the Fire to Her, But She Deserved So Much More

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

What do you do with a convicted pedophile rapist who loves to assault women and children of both sexes whenever he gets the opportunity?

House him with women. Clearly, this 6'2" violent rapist wouldn't feel safe being housed with male offenders (despite having met his boyfriend and co-conspirator in a prior stint in a male prison). 

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At least that is what Judge Sarah Netburn, a Biden nominee for the federal bench, decided in 2022 when July Justine Shelby, who was born William McClain, demanded that he be transferred to a women's prison because he felt unsafe being housed with other male offenders. 

Admittedly, I rarely think long and hard about the safety of pedophile rapists who trade violent pornographic images of children with other sex offenders, but that's just me. 

A trans-identified male convicted of rape and child sexual abuse has been transferred to a women’s federal prison after launching a lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons claiming “discrimination.” July Justine Shelby, born William McClain, was convicted on multiple counts of child pornography trafficking after being caught distributing photos of infants being sexually abused.

Shelby was initially arrested in November of 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana, after being linked to a cellphone found to contain graphic images of child rape. Shelby had been sending the images to another man later identified as a romantic interest of Shelby’s named Beau Thornburgh.

Shelby had met Thornburgh while in prison, and the two had developed a relationship over the course of their 12 years incarcerated together.

Thornburgh was arrested first, and a forensic examination of his devices found a number of communications with Shelby, who appeared to be supplying him with child sexual abuse images. Among the images traced to Shelby was a photo of an adult male sexually abusing an infant, and graphic images of a prepubescent girl.

When arrested, Shelby was on parole for rape and child molestation, and was not permitted to own a device which had access to the internet.

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The descriptions of his crimes, which I will not provide in detail, are horrifying. 

President Obama and President Biden are particularly proud of Netburn's nomination, as she represents one of the 200 non-white men nominated by Biden to the bench. That she is a radical who thinks that male rapists belong in women's prisons is just icing on the cake. 

Netburn took it on the chin testifying before Congress, and I am sure that many Democrats and squeamish moderates think was not fair; personally, I think anybody who forces women to live cheek by jowl with a pedophile rapist deserves more than a tongue-lashing. 

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Ted Cruz ripped Netburn a new one, as she well deserved. But honestly, words are not up to the task of dealing with people this deranged. No doubt the women in prison are some bad actors, but dumping a rapist in their midsts and locking him in with them is some real cruelty. 

Doing so in the name of compassion to a serial rapist is beyond parody. 

Cruz's first question--do you put your ideology ahead of justice--is the right one. Netburn thinks that justice, the law, and her ideology are the same thing. This is the core tenet of leftism. There are no limiting principles, just power. She had it. She used it. Damn the consequences. 

I know that it is common for conservatives to complain about the Washington uniparty, but while there is some truth to the accusation, it is fundamentally unfair. While Republicans have been too "go-along to get-along" in D.C., it still matters that they are there. And you can see why. 

No Republican would appoint a judge like this; no Republican Senate would approve a judge like this. We may be disappointed that our guys don't slash and burn the bureaucracy, that they spend too much, and are too comfortable in their positions to fight hard enough; but our guys aren't insane.

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They are lazy and comfortable. But not certifiable. 


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