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One of President Biden’s judicial nominees is under scrutiny for refusing to answer whether chromosomes determine one’s biological sex, insisting that she never studied biology and is unqualified to answer.
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn pleaded innocence of the question when asked it in a written questionnaire by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Is it possible to determine a person’s sex by only analyzing their chromosomes?” the South Carolina Republican asked the nominee.
“I have never studied biology and therefore I am unqualified to answer this question,” Judge Netburn said.
The back-and-forth came in the form of written follow-up questions following the nominee’s confirmation hearing last month.
During the May 22 hearing, Republican senators quizzed Judge Netburn over her decision to transfer a biological male child sex abuser to a female prison after the inmate decided to identify as a woman.
Her decision to move the prisoner conflicted with the recommendation from the Bureau of Prisons.
The inmate had been convicted of raping two children: a 17-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy. The inmate was also convicted of distributing child sex abuse material.
Judge Netburn has been a magistrate judge for more than a decade.
She was nominated by Mr. Biden to serve as a federal judge for the Southern District of New York.
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