SCOTUS Upholds Ban on Child Gender Procedures

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary Episode: SCOTUS Upholds Ban on Child Gender Procedures
Release Date: June 22, 2025

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Introduction to the Landmark SCOTUS Decision

In this pivotal episode of Morning Wire, hosts John Bickley and Georgia Howe delve into the Supreme Court's recent decision upholding Tennessee's ban on transgender medical procedures for minors. The 6-3 ruling, favoring Attorney General Jonathan Scarmetti, marks a significant moment in the ongoing national debate over transgender healthcare for children.

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Interview with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scarmetti

Significance of the Ruling

John Bickley opens the discussion with Jonathan Scarmetti, emphasizing the court's favorable 6-3 decision. Scarmetti underscores the ruling's importance, stating:

"This is an issue that's come up very quickly. It affects an increasingly large number of kids and the evidence that keeps coming in shows more and more that there is a huge risk to kids from these procedures with very little, if any benefit."
[02:06]

He highlights the necessity for legislatures to base their decisions on robust evidence to protect children effectively.

Majority Opinion vs. Dissenting Views

Bickley references Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion, noting the court's criticism of the plaintiffs' interpretation of "medical treatment":

"The plaintiffs contort the meaning of the term medical treatment."
[02:29]

Scarmetti explains that the majority focused on the specific medical conditions being treated, differentiating between indiscriminate use of treatments and their application for particular medical purposes. He points out a critical flaw in the opposition's argument:

"With any medical treatment, you're not just handing someone a drug, you're giving them a treatment to treat a specific condition."
[03:44]

Regarding the dissenting justices, Scarmetti outlines their perspective:

"They thought that the dissenting justices thought that this was some sort of discrimination."
[03:53]

The dissent argued that treating transgender youth differently amounted to discrimination based on their identity. However, the majority maintained that the focus should remain on the specific medical treatments and their purposes.

Implications for Other States

Scarmetti anticipates that the ruling will pave the way for other states to enact similar bans. He cites international examples where initial support for broad gender-affirming care has been retracted in light of emerging evidence:

"If we want to do right by our kids, we need to follow the evidence and make sure that they're getting care that is actually helping them."
[04:36]

Compliance and Enforcement

Addressing potential compliance issues, particularly referencing Vanderbilt University, Scarmetti confirms:

"I'm not aware of any violations of this law in Tennessee."
[05:56]

He notes that legal actions, such as emergency stay motions, have kept the law in effect without reported non-compliance.

Interactions with Other States

When questioned about sanctuary states and cross-border medical procedures, Scarmetti emphasizes the supremacy of Tennessee's laws within its borders:

"The full faith and credit clause says that Tennessee's laws are binding in Tennessee."
[06:28]

He warns against other states attempting to circumvent these laws, predicting legal challenges and potential defeats in court.

Parental Disagreements and Legal Protections

On the sensitive topic of parental disagreements regarding their children's medical treatments, Scarmetti acknowledges ongoing legal complexities:

"There are a lot of issues related to custody, related to parents who disagree with respect to medical treatment, with respect to residency."
[07:23]

He suggests that as scientific evidence evolves, it may eventually resolve these legal disputes.

Concerns Over Fraudulent Evidence

Addressing claims of fraudulent evidence supporting transgender procedures, Scarmetti warns of potential legal repercussions:

"If you are receiving federal funds to do research... and you know that part of that is materially not true, that could be a very, very significant legal problem for you."
[08:16]

He refrains from naming specific individuals but underscores the seriousness of misleading scientific research.

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Conversation with Activist Chloe Cole

Personal Testimony and Endorsement of the Ruling

Chloe Cole, a detransitioner activist, shares her personal experience with gender transition during adolescence, advocating for the Supreme Court's decision:

"I was put on puberty blockers, a chemical castration drug... and weekly testosterone injections at the age of 13 and... an irreversible surgery to remove my breasts."
[09:02]

She describes the procedures as abusive and detrimental to her development, emphasizing that children deserve the chance to grow up without such interventions.

Impact of the Ruling and Nationwide Momentum

Cole observes a significant uptick in legislative actions across states, inspired by the Tennessee ruling:

"I think there are 26 other states now that have filed similar laws... I think that this ruling is going to allow for many more states that were previously on the fence to pass their own protections."
[09:58]

Critique of the Opposition's Arguments

Responding to the opposing viewpoint, Cole dismisses the dissenting justices' reasoning and the scientific support for early medical interventions:

"It's so clear that there is really not any evidence in support of performing these procedures on children under the age of 18."
[10:27]

Personal Journey and Activism

Reflecting on her transformation from a detransitioner to an activist, Cole expresses fulfillment in turning her painful experiences into advocacy for others:

"It's been an incredibly transformative experience... to use my lived experience to convince lawmakers... to fight for the families who they are taking care of."
[11:16]

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Conclusion

The episode of Morning Wire provides an in-depth exploration of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Tennessee's ban on transgender medical procedures for minors. Through insightful interviews with Attorney General Jonathan Scarmetti and activist Chloe Cole, the podcast examines the legal, medical, and personal ramifications of the ruling. The discussion highlights the evolving landscape of transgender healthcare legislation and the intense debates surrounding the protection and rights of transgender youth.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jonathan Scarmetti:
  "This is really important... evidence shows more and more that there is a huge risk to kids from these procedures with very little, if any benefit."
  [02:06]

• Chloe Cole:
  "Every child in America deserves the chance to grow up whole and to be given the time to do so."
  [09:02]

• Chief Justice John Roberts (as cited by John Bickley):
  "The plaintiffs contort the meaning of the term medical treatment."
  [02:29]

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This summary captures the essential discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the podcast.

Transcript

[John Bickley]

In a landmark decision this week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state of Tennessee and its Attorney General, Jonathan Scarmetti, upholding the state's law banning transgender medical procedures on children. The 6:3 ruling paved the way for other states to follow Tennessee's lead. In this episode, we sit down with the attorney General as well as a detransitioner activist to discuss the precedent setting case. I'm Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Sunday, June 22nd and this is a week edition of Morning Wire.

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[John Bickley]

Available at pockethose.com terms joining us now to discuss the SCOTUS ruling on transgender procedures on children is Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scarmetti, whose name is officially on this landmark case. Attorney General, thank you so much for talking with us.

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

Thank you for having me.

[John Bickley]

So we have a major ruling on an extremely serious and sensitive issue here, child gender transition procedures. You banned it in Tennessee. We had plaintiffs argue that this was violating the 14th amendment. Now we have this 6 to 3 ruling in your favor. First, how important was this ruling?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

This is a really important ruling. This is an issue that's come up very quickly. It affects an increasingly large number of kids and the evidence that keeps coming in shows more and more that there is a huge risk to kids from these procedures with very Little, if any benefit. So it's really important that our legislatures be allowed to follow the evidence and do what they need to do to make sure kids are protected.

[John Bickley]

Now, all the conservative justices ruled in your favor 6 to 3. So a really overwhelming victory. I wanted to read from Chief Justice John Roberts, who penned the court's opinion. He highlights something extremely kind of amazing, actually. So he says, quote, the plaintiffs contort the meaning of the term medical treatment. He also writes that notably absent from their framing is a key aspect of any medical treatment, the underlying medical concern the treatment is intended to address. So how significant is it that the plaintiffs actually left out the medical arguments for transition procedures?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

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 they thought, the dissenting justices thought that this was some sort of discrimination. 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.

[John Bickley]

And clearly the strong majority of the court agreed. Now, all three left leaning justices ruled against this. What was the argument for the dissent.

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

At the oral argument? The two big issues were, number one, looking at the medical treatments kind of in isolation from the underlying medical purpose, and number two, looking at just basic equal protection law, looking at Loving vs. Virginia, and saying if you treat one person one way and another person differently and the differentiating factor is who they are, then that's discrimination. And here they were trying to say, if you're not giving kids these treatments because they're transgender, then you're discriminating against them. But here the court said the issue is not their transgender status. The issue is which specific medical condition you're treating with which specific treatments. And that's something that states have regulated for centuries.

[John Bickley]

So again, it comes back to if you can't make the medical case for these procedures, then how can you defend carrying out these procedures for gender transition treatment? We already have over two dozen states with laws restricting or banning these procedures. Is this ruling going to set the stage for even more states to follow Tennessee's lead?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

Well, it opens the door for it. And what's really going to push it is the medical evidence. If you look at these European countries that had embraced so called gender affirming care and allowed it broadly given kids loads of access to it. A lot of them having looked at the evidence, are severely restricting or prohibiting these treatments. You look at what's going on in the United Kingdom, in the Scandinavian countries, people who had embraced this are pulling back because the evidence shows that there's a huge risk to kids and very little if any benefit. And if we want to do right by our kids, we need to follow the evidence and make sure that they're getting care that is actually helping them. The evidence shows in a bipartisan supermajority of the Tennessee legislature heard from the experts and agreed the evidence shows that kids are much more at risk from these treatments than than kids should be.

[John Bickley]

This all began with Matt Walsh here at the Daily Wire exposing what was happening behind the scenes at Vanderbilt. Have you seen any compliance issues from Vanderbilt with this law?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

Yeah, I'm not aware of any violations of this law in Tennessee. You know they got an injunction against it. The plaintiffs did very early on. We filed an emergency stay motion with the court of appeals and ever since then the law's been in effect in Tennessee and I'm not aware of any non compliance.

[John Bickley]

What about other states with sanctuary policies? Is there any mechanisms in Tennessee to address issues where other states may violate the principles established here in Tennessee and maybe allow residents to have access to those procedures or medical treatments through other states?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

So I mean, people can go to other states and do what's legal in other states. You know, there are constitutional issues there. We can't stop Maine from doing within the borders of Maine what they want to do. But if anybody has a sanctuary state policy that say, lets people send drugs into Tennessee and purports to shield them from subpoenas or protect them from judgments against them, that violates the Constitution of the United States. The full faith and credit clause says that Tennessee's laws are binding in Tennessee. Other states can't get cute and try to find ways around that. And we've seen a lot of states try to do this. I, I think it's a bad idea. They shouldn't do it. And if they keep it up, they're going to end up in court and they're going to lose.

[John Bickley]

What about in situations where you have parents who differ in terms of their views on what kinds of procedures should be allowed for their children? Are there protections for residents of Tennessee for parents who are trying to protect against that?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

So, you know, there are some gnarly issues there. There was a parental rights question in the court below that the Supreme Court didn't take. And you know, there are a lot of issues related to custody, related to parents who disagree with respect to medical treatment, with respect to residency. Some of that stuff still needs to be hashed out. But given the weight of the medical evidence and the trajectory of the evidence, I mean, there's just more and more evidence coming in showing that this is bad for kids and that the evidence before that purported to say it was good was fraudulent. You know, it may be that the science overtakes these legal questions before they ever come to a head.

[John Bickley]

One more question about that fraudulent evidence. Do you see legal ramifications for people who are knowingly moving forward, promoting these kinds of procedures against what the science actually said?

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

Those are some very fact based questions. And I don't want to say anything specific about any specific individuals, but if you are receiving federal funds to do research, if you are advancing your research in a way that makes you money, and you know that part of that is materially not true, that could be a very, very significant legal problem for you.

[John Bickley]

Well, Attorney General, congratulations on this big win. A lot of people here in Tennessee very, very happy about this. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Jonathan Scarmetti]

Thank you.

[John Bickley]

That was Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scremetti. Joining us now is Chloe Cole, a detransitioner turned activist who's been speaking out against transgender medical procedures on children. Hey, Chloe. So this is a massive ruling, a landmark ruling. Did the court get it right?

[Chloe Cole]

Absolutely. I mean, 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. I'm somebody who went through this as a child, and I've seen just how absolutely horrific it is not to just go through the process of a medical transition, but to do so while you're still developing. I was put on puberty blockers, a chemical castration drug to stop my puberty, and weekly testosterone injections at the age of 13 and. And 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.

[John Bickley]

You've done a lot of activism, obviously, on this issue. Are you seeing even more momentum in other states? What are you seeing on the ground?

[Chloe Cole]

I think there are 26 other states now that have filed similar laws, that have passed similar laws to protect the children of other states, from puberty blockers, from the administration of sex hormones and other drugs, and from both the breast surgeries and the genital surgeries. And I think that this ruling is going to allow for many more states that were previously on the fence to pass their own protections.

[John Bickley]

Did you get a chance to look at the arguments on the other side for this ruling?

[Chloe Cole]

Yes, I have. And, I mean, I think it's just incredible that there, that there were three justices who voted no, against, against reality, against the protection of American children, because it's so clear that there is really not any evidence in support of performing these procedures on children under the age of 18. And that was one of the arguments. There is. There's so little backing for any of these treatments in general now.

[John Bickley]

This whole process, from transition as a young teen to detransition to now activism against these procedures, this must be a pretty dramatic journey for you, but also, I would think, rewarding now that you're really seeing the fruits of your labor. How's that journey been for you?

[Chloe Cole]

I mean, it's been an incredibly transformative experience for me to be able to turn what used to be a very traumatic and painful experience into something for the greater good, where I can help other children, help other families from going through what I did and helping them to pull, pull them out of it and to be able to use my lived experience to convince lawmakers and these other people in power to do the right thing, to fight for their constituents, to fight for the families who they are taking care of.

[John Bickley]

Really powerful. Thank you so much for talking with us. That was activist Chloe Cole, and this has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

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