The Trump administration scored a legal victory this week courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 6-3 ruling, the conservative justices decided Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military can remain in place while the litigation plays out in the lower courts. It is near-term win for the administration that is facing legal challenges to most of its policy initiatives.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by by Chamath Palihapitiya and Jason Calacanis, hosts of the All-In Podcast, to discuss the high court’s ruling and the left’s freak out over it.
The Ruling
Late Tuesday, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that fell along ideological lines in Shilling v. United States, one of the lawsuits challenging Trump’s January 27 executive order banning trans service members.
The order, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” would require the Defense Department to amend its guidelines for “trans-identifying medical standards for military service” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
Trump’s policy was immediately challenged in federal court. In Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes made headlines when she bizarrely questioned government lawyers about everything from Jesus to Miss Pac-Man before declaring the policy was riddled with “animus.” She ruled the feds had to delay the policy, but her decision was overturned by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, a group of transgender military members brought a lawsuit against the administration in Seattle. In March, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle issued a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of the order as the case worked way its way through the lower courts because he determined the plaintiffs would likely succeed on the merits of “their equal protection, First Amendment, and procedural due process claims, among others.”
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Settle, and the Trump team then appealed to the Supreme Court. All but Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson sided with the Trump administration, lifting the lower court ban and allowing the order and related policies to proceed for now.
The Hysterical Reaction
The ruling, which did not address the underlying merits of the case or Trump executive order, is, as Megyn noted, “driving the left insane.” Libs of TikTok highlighted just one of the hysterical reactions on X. Watch:
The woman on TikTok said she will “shave her head” if someone can give her a “valid reason” why trans people should be banned from the military when “white men are still the number one attackers of women.” Megyn decided to take a shot.
“Gender dysphoria is in the DSM-5 as a mental disorder. That’s all you need to be disqualified from serving in the military,” she said, noting a history of ADD, eating disorders, and/or depression are actively disqualifying.
“I mean, it is not hard to get banned from the military… So, gender dysphoria, which actually does appear in the DSM-5… is more than enough to qualify,” Megyn continued. “The ban was correct. It depends on the commander-in-chief and what he thinks is appropriate, but this commander in chief says it’s a no.”
Palihapitiya said this TikToker and others like her who are so concerned about the ban should find a more productive way to oppose it. “If folks disagree with this, I think what they should probably do is invest the resources to influence the powers that be to redefine ‘gender dysphoria’ as something that shouldn’t be in the DSM-5,” he said. “Then, they would have a more straightforward discrimination case probably.”
A Losing Issue?
Looking at the bigger picture, Palihapitiya sees the checks and balances of government working as they should. “What I see is actually pretty healthy form of government, which is you have decisions that are being made by the executive branch… groups who disagree with it bringing it to a court of law, decision goes one way or the other, either party can escalate, and there is a due process that’s happening,” he explained.
This issue is also a “microcosm,” he said, of something Trump excels at. “He has this innate ability to shape the contours of potholes, and people fall into these potholes and get obsessed around issues that, fundamentally, small numbers of people are affected by them,” Palihapitiya added. “And I think in that, what happens is there has just been a lot of energy expended.”
While he said the left would be better served focusing on issues “that affect the 79 million people that will need to vote for them if they’re going to win in 2028,” Megyn doesn’t see it happening. “But they can’t. They are obsessed with identity, and that goes beyond the subset of people who are affected by gender dysphoria,” she concluded. “The left and, in particular, the left-wing of the Democrat Party is obsessed.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Calacanis and Palihapitiya by tuning in to episode 1,067 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.