Draft:Sarah Netburn

Sarah Netburn (born 1972) is an American lawyer who has served as a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York since 2012. She is a nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the same court.

Education
Netburn earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in 1994 and a Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law in 2001.

Career
From 2001 to 2002, Netburn served as a law clerk for Judge Harry Pregerson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From 2002 to 2010, she worked at at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP in New York City where she then became a partner. From 2010 to 2012, she served as the Southern District of New York's chief counsel to the Office of Pro Se Litigation.

Federal judicial service
She assumed office as a United States magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 16, 2012. On June 24, 2020, Netburn was appointed to a second term to serve as a United States magistrate judge. On January 3, 2024, she was appointed as the chief magistrate judge for a term starting January 21, 2024. She succeeded Judge James L. Cott.

Nomination to district court
On April 24, 2024, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Netburn to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. On April 30, 2024, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Netburn to the seat being vacated by Judge Lorna G. Schofield, who will assume senior status on December 31, 2024. On May 22, 2024, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, she was questioned by Republican senators on the committee over a 2022 case when she granted the request of July Justine Shelby, an incarcerated transgender woman, who asked to move from a men's prison to a women’s prison over the objection of the Board of Prisons. Shelby currently serves a 15-year sentence for the distribution of child pornography to other sex offenders and previously served 18 years in prison for the sexual assault of two minors. On July 11, 2024, her nomination was stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 10–11 vote, with Senator Jon Ossoff voting against. Her nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.