The Michael Knowles Show - BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Trans Ban For Minors

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

The US Supreme Court upholds Tennessee's ban on transing the kids, Michael Knowles reacts.     - - -     Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now more people than ever can bring in their bill for a better deal at Verizon. Got AT&T or T-Mobile? We got you. Xfinity or Spectrum? You too. So tell your friends, your family, your quirky neighbor Jeff. Grab your megaphone and yell it from the rooftop. Get a better deal at Verizon.

Because chances are anyone in shouting distance is included. Bring in your AT&T, T-Mobile, Xfinity, or Spectrum bill, and we'll give you a better deal on the best network on the best-overdial network. Come by Verizon today. Best Network based on root metrics, best overall mobile network performance. US second half, 25. All rights reserved. Must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal.

Additional terms, conditions and restrictions and restrictions apply. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day Like superheroes and sidekicks Or auto and home insurance With USAA you can bundle your auto and home And save up to 10% Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote At usaa.com slash bundle

Restrictions apply Kayak gets my flight, hotel and rental car right So I can tune out travel advice That's just plain wrong Bro Skycoin Way better than points Never fly during a Scorpio full moon Just tell the manager

you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Bad advice. You're talking to me. Kayak, got that right. Marvelous, excellent breaking news. The Supreme Court is sided with my own attorney general here in Tennessee, Jonathan Scermetti. In U.S. v. Scermetti, this is the biggest case pertaining to transgenderism and specifically transgenderism.

the kids that we have in the U.S. and the Supreme Court has just dealt a major six-three blow to the pro-trans ideology side and has defended kids and justice and human nature and reality. And this is a really, really good decision. And it's a harbinger, I think, of things to come, of good things to come. So at issue in the case was this Tennessee law which said that, that you can't trans the kids. And this was a law that, you know, we at the Daily Wire have been really interested in. And this is an issue, obviously, that we've been really interested in. Matt, obviously, at his movie, What Is a Woman, became a global phenomenon.

I gave a speech that went a little bit viral at CPAC, pointing out that transgenderism is absurd, and it's bad for everyone, and it's good for no one, and for that reason it needs to be eradicated from public life entirely. D.W. has made movies and chocolate companies about this issue. We've really, we've cared about this issue a lot. Because, one, it presents a grave injustice toward human beings and especially to kids, but two, because it's just a symbol of all that has gone wrong in liberalism. And so to rewind some of the degradation of the past 50, 100 years, you really need to start pulling on that string. And for all of those reasons and many more, I'm just so pleased to see that not only has, have we, not only as an institution, but as a conservative movement, have we been able to push back on this ideology? Get transing the kids clinics closed. Go out there and convince people of an idea that we used to know for all of history, but now we've got real legal heft behind it. What is in this case? So at issue, you had three trans plaintiffs or the parents of trans-kids.

kids saying that they wanted to keep transiting their kids. And the Tennessee law said, no, you can't. So it goes all the way up to the Supreme Court. Is transgenderism protected by the Equal Protection Clause? Does the logic of the Bostock decision, which the Supreme Court, even with ostensible conservative Neil Gorsuch said, identifies gender identity as a protected class along with sexual orientation, along with biological sex in civil rights law in Title VII, does all of that imply, does accepting the trans ideology in principle imply that you have to have a right to trans the kids? And the Supreme Court said, no. And the decision's really good. So Chief Justice Roberts wrote the decision. I'm just skimming it here. Obviously, it's much longer and this news just broke.

But Robert says, no, writing for the court, 6-3, the Tennessee law can be upheld. Thomas, great, good all conservative, Clarence Thomas comes in. He says, yeah, look, I agree with the court. The law obviously should be upheld, but I do not agree with the court that we should ignore the Bostock decision. He said, I think the Bostock decision, which holds that transgenderism is a protected class and right under civil rights law, Title VII, I think that case fails on its own merit. So I still disagree with that case. I still think that case should be overturned. But regardless, that doesn't affect this case. Obviously, we should allow states to prohibit transing the kids if they want. Justice Alito,

another strong, good, hardcore conservative comes in. And he similarly, though not exactly the same way, he disagrees. And he says, you know, look, I disagree a little bit with the court's decision because the court is holding that the Tennessee law does not discriminate on the basis of transgender identity. And Alito says, yeah, well, I actually think it kind of does, but I just don't think that transgender is a suspect class, meaning a class that has historically been subject to discrimination and therefore gets special protection under the law. So he says, look, I disagree at the court a little bit. Yeah, the law does kind of, in a sense, discriminate against transgenderism. I just think that's a

ridiculous framework, meaning there are greater implications for the law, and maybe we need to overturn some other court decisions, too. But in any case, really good stuff. Totally what you would expect of those guys. Great news that the other conservative justices have gone along with this is one, One last bit I want to read to you from the opinion of the court. This is from Roberts's opinion. The majority of opinion. Hold on. He just keeps writing and writing and writing. Whereas it's here, it's all the way at the end of the opinion. Yes, here we are. Recent developments only underscore the need for legislative flexibility in this era. And it goes on to explain how Tennessee is enacting this law and throwing

itself into a heated scientific dispute. And so the court is not going to weigh in on that scientific dispute. That is not the competency of the court, exactly. The court, in the heat of that scientific and medical dispute, is going to put that decision back where it belongs in the hands of the people, and in this case in the hands of the states. Great decision. Major win. I think a lot of us, certainly in this building, but throughout the entire conservative movement, are glad to see this. It's a reminder that, okay, that I think the fever might have broken and reality and sanity are being restored. We're not going to make a national policy and a constitutional right of making eunuchs out of little kids. You know, that, what an evil country would do that.

We're not, we're not there yet. Thank God. We're not there yet. And, okay, then the question becomes, if there is some kind of civil right to transgenderism as Bostock holds. but states are allowed to not trans the kids as U.S. versus Scrimetti holds. How do those two decisions go together? This is what we look forward to now. Something's got to give. Those two decisions don't make sense together. Either transgenderism is real or it's not.

This was the point of my CEPAC speech. Either a man can become a woman or he can. If a man can become a woman or if a man can be born in the wrong body or whatever, then you should trans everyone, including the kids, if they want to be trans. because you're making a claim about human nature that implies, taken to its logical conclusion, implies you have to trans the kids. But if it's wrong to trans the kids, the only reason it would be wrong to trans the kids is because that claim you're making about human nature and the trans ideology isn't true. If it's not true for kids, why would it be true for adults? In that case, it's not that

a man can be born in the wrong body or that he can change his sex or something. It's just, we would just go back to the traditional understanding of these issues, which is that sometimes people get a little confused, and sometimes people suffer from mental illnesses. And we need to treat those illnesses rather than affirm delusions, which is not good for anyone. And in this broader opinion, I forget exactly which justice brought it up. It might have been Thomas brings up the cast review in the UK, which says, wow, man, these trans procedures actually don't really help anybody. They don't work to do what they say they're going to do, but they also just don't even help alleviate anxiety or depression or suicidality.

So yikes, maybe this whole ideology is on its way out. Maybe this is the beginning, the first major Supreme Court decision to say, okay, we've made some errors in recent years. Maybe in the future we're going to reconsider these errors and maybe we'll end up where we should, which is the transgenderism should be eradicated from public life. Entirely, the whole preposterous ideology

beginning to end. Okay, good news. See you next time. Mom, can you tell me a story? Sure. Once upon a time, a mom needed a new car. Was she brave? She was tired, mostly. But she went to Carbana.com and found a great car at a great price. No secret treasure map required. Did you have to find a dragon? Nope. She bought it 100% online, from her bed, actually. Was it scary? Honey, it was as unscary as car buying could be. Did the car have a sunroof? It did, actually. Okay. Good stuff. Car buying you'll want to tell stories about. Buy your car today on...

Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.