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--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The Supreme Court upholds Tennessee's ban on transgender medical procedures for minors. There is a huge risk to kids from these procedures with very little, if any, benefit. The 6-3 decision is a landmark victory for parents and conservatives and a defining blow to transgender activism. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: It's Thursday, June 19th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. continues to fortify the Middle East as Trump ramps up the pressure on Iran to surrender. Why didn't he negotiate with me two weeks ago? He could have done fine. He would have had a country. And as Trump escalates deportation plans, Democrats make headlines by getting themselves arrested.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Before I could even get out my question, I was physically and aggressively forced out of the room. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: In a major win for conservative activists and parent groups, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law banning transgender drugs and surgeries for children. This landmark ruling paves the way for other states to follow Tennessee's lead. Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi is here now with more.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Hi, Georgia. The court ruled six to three in the case called United States versus Scrimetti. Justices decided that Tennessee's law does not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The plaintiffs in this case, which included trans-identifying teens and their families, claimed that Tennessee's law banning puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors discriminated against them on the basis of sex.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Chief Justice John Roberts penned the court's opinion and rejected the plaintiff's argument that Tennessee's law discriminates on the basis of sex. He also said the plaintiffs, quote, contort the meaning of the term medical treatment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Roberts wrote, quote, notably absent from their framing is a key aspect of any medical treatment, the underlying medical concern the treatment is intended to address.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Daily Wire's White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan was at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. We just talked to a couple people that came out of the court that were in there when the decision came down. They told us they were really surprised by the expressions on the justices faces when this decision came down.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, Justice Amy Coney Barrett looked a little angry, they said, as she listened to one of the liberal justices' dissents, while the liberal justices also looked a little upset as they listened to the majority opinion, which obviously came down in favor of this Tennessee law.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: We spoke with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scrametti, whose name is on this case about the victory He explained what he saw as the flaws in the plaintiff arguments.
--:-- Jonathan Scrametti: So the main argument from the other side when we did the oral argument in front of the court was if you have a boy who wants testosterone to resolve a developmental defect then they can get it. But a girl who wants testosterone to deepen her voice can't. And the dissenting justices thought that this was some sort of discrimination.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But with any medical treatment, you're not just handing someone a drug, you're giving them a treatment to treat a specific condition. And different drugs have different effects on different conditions. And we differentiate between those purposes all the time. So I thought that was a fatal flaw in the argument on the other side.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: As a reminder, Tennessee lawmakers were inspired to introduce and pass the law following Daily Wire host Matt Walsh's explosive investigation into Vanderbilt University's gender clinic.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. A lot of parents and activists are celebrating today. On that note, what are they saying? They are, absolutely. We spoke with Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who has been outspoken about the harms of transgender drugs and surgeries for children.
--:-- Chloe Cole: I believe that every child in America deserves the chance to grow up whole and to be given the time to do so. And this is a ruling that is going to allow children that time that I never was given. At 15 years old, I underwent an irreversible surgery to remove my breasts. Absolutely no child should ever be given the chance to go through any of this because it is abusive, it's detrimental to their development, and they deserve better.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, going back to the court's opinion, what issues did the conservative justices point to? Chief Justice Roberts noted that the number of minors requesting sex transition treatments has increased in recent years.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: And meanwhile, European countries have cracked down on these procedures and drugs. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion in which he said, quote, there is no medical consensus on how best to treat gender dysphoria in children. And quote, recent revelation suggests that leading voices in this area have relied on questionable evidence and have allowed ideology to influence their medical guidance.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by the two other liberal-leaning justices, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown-Jackson. Sotomayor claimed that teens needing transgender drugs, can be a question of life or death.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Advocates of these drugs and surgeries have pushed a similar line to parents of trans-identifying children for years, even as newer evidence has shown that these treatments do not improve children's mental health.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what are the implications of this ruling for other states? So far, more than 20 states have bans similar to Tennessee's ban, and this ruling definitely lays the groundwork for them to remain in place and even for more states to enact bans.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Meanwhile, medical skepticism around these drugs and procedures is only growing. Last month, the HHS released a review saying the, quote, science and evidence do not support the use of these drugs and procedures for children.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, this was a hard-fought victory for a lot of activists. We're going to be tracking the effects. Maraid, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: As the war between Israel and Iran approaches its seventh day the Ayatollah says his country will never surrender Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break it all down for us.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Trump still weighing potential strikes Meanwhile we have Iran taking a defiant tone What the latest Yeah, on Wednesday, Ayatollah Khomeini made clear to the world that he would never agree to President Trump's demands for an unconditional surrender.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In a video statement, the tyrannical leader said, quote, the United States must know that our people will not surrender and any military intervention by them will lead to irreparable consequences.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The expectation from military experts is that if Trump does move forward and join Israel's offensive, the Iranians would respond by launching missiles at American military installations across the Middle East, particularly those in Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, which are just across the Iranian border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. Now, that video from the Ayatollah came a day after President Trump threatened to strike him personally and as Israel continues to hammer Iranian nuclear and military facilities. To date now, the Israelis have killed 11 of the top 12 ranking military leaders of Iran.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, the top brass in Iran has really been wiped out. What are we hearing now from Trump? So he's reportedly still weighing his options, but at the moment, he's keeping his cards close to the chest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Speaking at the White House Wednesday, Trump made very clear that every option is on the table. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble. and they want to negotiate. And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before? All this death and destruction.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, President Trump also made clear that whatever course he takes, he is intent on avoiding a long drawn out conflict like we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, we've heard a lot of talk about potential regime change that's picking up in the last few days. What's the latest there?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, according to some outsiders, the Ayatollah's iron grip on Iran could be in danger, not just from external attacks by Israel, but more importantly from internal dissent from the Iranian people themselves.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Even before this war, the country had been plagued by historic inflation. Last year it was 32%, the year before 45%. And in the last week alone, Iran's currency has fallen at 13%. While strikes on oil and natural gas refineries have led to energy shortages, we've also seen widespread blackouts and internet being cut out. They're struggling just to keep the lights on.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And all of that comes after years of sanctions from the West have really crippled the country's economy. Given that economic turmoil, there is growing speculation that an internal uprising against the Ayatollah could come in the near future. But there's just no way of knowing how real that possibility is.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For more on whether Israel itself is seeking a regime change, we spoke with Simcha Rothman, a member of Israel's Knesset, or their parliament.
--:-- Simcha Rothman: A regime change should happen in Iran, but I don't think the goal of the war per se is the regime change. The goal is to make sure that Israel is not under threat. Of course, when the current regime has invested for so many years, so much effort in the goal of destroying the state of Israel, if we are taking it away from it, it might weaken him. Of course, we can all hope so. But the goal is to remove the danger for Israel and its citizens.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, it's worth noting, when you talk about a regime change, there are some who say the war could actually galvanize support for the Ayatollah. And even if there were a grassroots movement against this regime, we have not seen evidence of it yet, as the regime has restricted internet access and arrested anyone who dissents publicly against the government.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, stateside, we've seen a number of polls showing public support for U.S. intervention. For example, in the latest Rasmussen polling, 57% of Americans support American strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear program. compared to just 30% who opposed them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But it's also worth noting there, 69% of Americans say that even if they support airstrikes, they would prefer the two sides negotiate an agreement. But as Trump said Wednesday, Iran had their chance at diplomacy and refused to compromise. Now they're facing the consequences of that decision.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cap, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Blue cities are in rebellion against Trump immigration agenda Protests and riots threaten immigration officers while Democratic officials openly challenge the federal government Here to talk about the fight over deportations is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Tim, where is the most pushback coming from? Yeah, most of the pushback is in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. And the resistance involves everything from activist coordination to impede ICE operations and local officials getting in between ICE and local law enforcement.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, Chicago has suspended an online portal for illegal aliens to apply for IDs. The City Keys program was shut down after ICE subpoenaed its records. The Chicago city clerk then shut it down and told the Chicago Tribune that, quote, we're going to fight giving over any data to the federal government.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Mayor Brandon Johnson has been adamant that Chicago will take to the streets if it has to to resist Trump. Here's Johnson on MSNBC on Sunday. We're going to continue to resist and we're going to do it in many different ways, whether it's taken to the streets or to the courts or policy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: One of the things that I am very proud of is that we are a welcoming city, which means our local law enforcement do not dub or behave as federal ICE agents.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Of course, comments like that haven't stopped Trump from targeting these cities. He made this clear on Monday. Biden allowed 21 million people to come into our country. of that vast numbers of those people were murderers, killers, people from gangs, people from jails. They emptied their jails out into the U.S. Most of those people are in the cities, all blue cities, all Democrat-run cities, and they think they're going to use them to vote. It's not going to happen.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a lot of back and forth over this, but as we've seen in Los Angeles, the riots are having some pretty serious consequences. How's the Trump administration handling it? Well, it's not just the Trump administration, but local law enforcement too.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A bunch of new charges were announced Tuesday from state and federal officials. U.S. Attorney Bill Assaylee and L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hockman held a press conference and outlined dozens of counts from curfew violations to assault on law enforcement.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Assaylee on just one of the suspects charged. Angus Johnson confronted a California National Guardsman and after heckling him, he spit on him. Johnson then spit on other federal police officers present who were trying to keep the peace.
--:-- Tim Pierce: As our president said, if you spit, we hit, and we will hit you with a felony. Hockman said that his district attorney's office has charged at least 30 people. The U.S. attorney has brought an additional 20 counts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Lawmakers on both sides have condemned any violence, but Democrats also seem to court their own run-ins with law enforcement. You remember New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver was charged after chaos erupted at an ICE detention facility in Newark.
--:-- Tim Pierce: More recently, New York City Comptroller Brad Landner, who is a candidate for mayor, was arrested outside an immigration court on Tuesday. Police said he was impeding law enforcement. Then there is California Senator Alex Padilla, who had to be forcefully removed from a Homeland Security press conference last week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He surprised security and shouted questions at Secretary Noem. Padilla gave a speech on the Senate floor afterwards. I was forced to the ground. first on my knees and then flat on my chest.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The cases are racking up quickly for Democrats. Right. Now, concurrently with all of this, though, President Trump has been pushing forward some new policies on the southern border. What's new there?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, at the southern border, not a single illegal alien entered the U.S. in the month of May. Again, not a single one. At least not any that got away from law enforcement or were caught on camera.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In all, border enforcement encountered just under 9,000 illegal aliens between ports of entry last month. That's a 93% decline since last May, when that number was more than 117,000. Wow, so a huge turnaround.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you're watching on YouTube, like and subscribe. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know. Thank you.
