All Hell Breaks In Judiciary Committee Loose When Cruz, Kennedy Explode At Laphonza Butler

4 months ago

At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) got upset with Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) during the questioning of a judicial nominee about transgender policies.

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Transcript

00:00The government did not move for a stay of the decision.

00:09Well Judge Netburn, I want to continue on this line of questioning.

00:14In your court, what matters more, the rights of individuals or your political ideology?

00:21I apply the law to the facts.

00:23I asked a question.

00:24Which matters more?

00:26My political ideology doesn't matter at all.

00:28So I don't believe you.

00:30And I think this case demonstrates that you are willing to subjugate the rights of individuals

00:37to satisfy your political ideology.

00:40This case involves a male defendant who raped a nine-year-old boy.

00:49Was he guilty of that?

00:51Yes, the petitioner pled guilty to that.

00:53So he raped a nine-year-old boy.

00:54He also raped a 17-year-old girl.

00:57Was he guilty of that?

00:58He pled guilty.

00:59The petitioner pled guilty to that crime as well.

01:01So was he guilty?

01:03I hope so, because she pled guilty to it.

01:06He was a he when he did this.

01:08That's correct.

01:09And also criminal deviant conduct, which the record doesn't disclose what that was exactly.

01:16Then, after serving in prison, Mr. McClain was released for parole, but then violated

01:25the terms of parole by having internet and was sent back to prison.

01:29One year after being released again, he was convicted of having child pornography.

01:33Is that correct?

01:35I'm unclear on exactly the time frame that you're at, but the petitioner was convicted

01:39of distributing child pornography.

01:41Child pornography that was images of adults violently raping children.

01:46Abhorrent conduct.

01:47Okay.

01:48For which there are real victims.

01:51And this individual, six foot two, biologically a man, a minute ago you said that when this

02:00man decided that he was a she, you said this individual was, quote, I wrote it down, sober

02:07and entirely a female.

02:10That phrase struck me as remarkable.

02:12Did this individual have male genitalia?

02:14I think what I said, or at least what I...

02:16That is a verbatim quote.

02:18Entirely a female.

02:19Sorry.

02:20What I meant to say was hormonally a female.

02:22Okay.

02:23But that's not entirely.

02:24Did this individual have male genitalia?

02:26Yes.

02:27So you took a six foot two serial rapist, serial child rapist with male genitalia and

02:38he said, you know, I'd like to be in a women's prison.

02:42And your answer was, that sounds great to me.

02:45Let me ask you something.

02:46The other women in that prison, do they have any rights?

02:51Is that a question you're asking me?

02:52Yes.

02:53The other women in that prison, do they have any rights?

02:54Of course.

02:55Do they have the right not to have a six foot two man who is a repeat serial rapist put

03:01in as their cellmate?

03:03Senator Cruz, I considered the facts presented to me and I reached a decision based on what

03:08the law is.

03:09I asked you a question.

03:10Do they have a right not to have a six foot two man who is a serial rapist put in as their

03:17cellmate?

03:18Do those women have a right to that?

03:19Every person who's incarcerated has the right to be safe in their space.

03:23But you didn't think so.

03:25You didn't think so.

03:26And in fact, I'm going to give some quotes from your order because Senator Kennedy is

03:31right.

03:32This is not a judge's order.

03:33This is a political activist.

03:34By the way, the beginning of your order says, at birth, people are typically assigned a

03:42gender.

03:43I got to say that would astonish a lot of Americans.

03:45A lot of Americans think you go to the hospital, a baby is born, and you say, congratulations,

03:50you have a little boy, a little girl.

03:51The assigned a gender, I know you went to Brown, but it sounds like it's in a college

03:56faculty lounge with no bearing on reality.

04:00The Bureau of Prison argued what I'm saying right now, that if you put this person in

04:05a female prison, there will be a risk of sexual assault to the women.

04:09And you know what you did?

04:11You said you didn't care about the women.

04:12I'm going to quote what you wrote.

04:13You wrote, quote, the Bureau of Prison's claimed penalogical interest in protecting

04:17female prisoners from sexual violence and trauma.

04:21This interest is legitimate, that's kind of you to say, but there are no signs that Petitioner

04:26is at risk of reoffending.

04:28The record is devoid of evidence of incidents of violence or assault during Petitioner's

04:31incarceration when she was the perpetrator, only the victim.

04:34A theoretical risk of sexual assault by the prisoner, without more, cannot support the

04:39BOP's position.

04:41No evidence, theoretical.

04:44Have you dealt, in what universe is someone who is a serial repeat child rapist not at

04:52a risk of reoffending?

04:54Senator, as I do in every case-

04:57I know you've been told to repeat the line, I follow the law.

05:00I asked a question.

05:02In what universe is someone who is a serial repeat child rapist not at risk of reoffending?

05:09Sir, I looked at the facts that were before me in this case.

05:14All of the evidence, including the statements of every warden who had supervised this Petitioner-

05:19You also wrote, the BOP also posits that permitting Petitioner to live among women will be traumatizing

05:24and possibly dangerous to them.

05:26This concern is overblown.

05:29I have to say, if I were the father of one of those women, and you decided that my daughter's

05:38cellmate was going to be a six-foot-two man who over and over and over again committed

05:43violent sexual assault, I would say the entire justice system is absurd, and it is clear

05:52on your record, your political ideology matters a heck of a lot more than the rights of those

05:57women that you endangered.

05:59I think you're a radical, and I think you have no business being a judge.

06:06Judge Netburn, there was an opportunity during your exchange with Senator Cruz that you were

06:11attempting to offer a response relative to the conditions under which this Petitioner

06:22was unsafe in the facilities in which she was being held.

06:26I'd like to offer you the opportunity to finish that response.

06:29The facts that were presented to me and what I relied on to make my decision were that

06:35the Petitioner had engaged in no violence, no physical violence, no acts of sexual violence

06:43whatsoever while in custody.

06:45All three wardens who supervised the Petitioner requested that she be transferred to a women's

06:52facility because of her serious medical needs.

06:55In addition, the Bureau of Prisons' longtime medical provider testified at a two-day hearing

07:02in my courtroom and recommended that the Petitioner be transferred because of her serious

07:07medical needs.

07:08And the last thing I'll say is that the Transgender Executive Council, which is the body that

07:13makes decisions on behalf of transgender transfer requests within the Bureau of Prisons, never

07:19said that the Petitioner could not be transferred and never, ever said that she couldn't be

07:26transferred because of any risk of violence.

07:30What the Transgender Executive Council repeatedly said in denying the request was simply that

07:37she needed to maintain her hormone levels.

07:41That was the repeated justification for the denial of transfer.

07:45But the Petitioner had reached full female hormone levels before even being incarcerated.

07:52At the time, the district judge in Indiana who sentenced the Petitioner requested that

07:58she be placed in a women's facility.

08:00Her hormones were entirely female at that point.

08:03And so the decision by the Transgender Executive Council to deny the transfer request based

08:09on this idea that it was only because her hormones needed to be consistent and stabilized,

08:16I found was a pretext.

08:17But they never once said she cannot be transferred because of violence.

08:21It was always based on this idea that her hormones had to be transferred.

08:25Thank you, Judge Netburn.

08:26Senator Padilla.

08:27Senator Padilla, you all have had—

08:30No, no, no.

08:31No, no, no.

08:32No, no, no.

08:33No, no, no.

08:34There is no follow-up.

08:35No, there is not.

08:36That is exactly how it works.

08:37Look, look.

08:38If you follow up, you didn't get extra time, and she just directly contradicted her own

08:43report.

08:44I'm just going to read her own words because it's exactly the opposite of what she said.

08:47Your own report says, quote—

08:48Senators, I gave both of you more time to finish your line of questioning.

08:54I allowed the witness to finish her response.

08:57I allowed the witness to finish her response.

09:00I allowed the witness to finish her response.

09:03You're abusing her status of chair.

09:05I understand that you're scared of the facts.

09:07You are abusing her status of chair.

09:09Senator Padilla, you can open up testimony and then not give us a chance to cross-examine.

09:13She has an obligation to explain why she directly contradicted what she wrote in her report.

09:18She says in her report, the Bureau of Prisons' claimed penalogical interest is in protecting

09:23female prisoners from sexual violence and trauma.

09:25She just told you the Bureau of Prisons didn't say there was a concern about sexual violence

09:30and trauma.

09:31Those are directly contradictory, and why are you contradicting what you wrote in your report?

09:36I believe I have the floor.

09:38I believe I have the floor.

09:41Are you going to let her answer that question, or you don't want her to answer that question?

09:45Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

09:48Are you afraid of the answer to that question?

09:51Are you afraid of the answer to that question?

09:53So, yes, you are afraid of the answer to that question.

09:56Clearly, you're afraid of the answer to that question.

09:59This is absurd.

10:01To the nominees before us, appreciate your patience and your dignity.

All Hell Breaks In Judiciary Committee Loose When Cruz, Kennedy Explode At Laphonza Butler

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