From left, Tennessee Sen. Jack Johnson, House Majority Leader William Lambers and Attorney General Jonathan Skulmetti were attorney generals at a press conference Wednesday, celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold gender bans in favor of care for minors. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Tennessee Republican leaders won the victory lap Wednesday for a U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold their gender to affirm the care of minors as they used it as a springboard to encourage a national ban.

The court’s 6-3 ruling is not a groundbreaking decision, but Tennessee’s law says it is legal in that it has the power to pass health-related bills.

Describing the decision as a victory for “freedom,” Portland Rep. William Lamberth urged Congress to adopt a national ban on adolescent blockers and surgery for transgender children, even if parents wanted treatment. Other than that, Lamberth said all state legislators in the country should pass laws such as Tennessee.

“States should be able to protect their children from strange practices that they don’t affirm and don’t care,” Lambers said.

Congress is not someone who doesn’t know to enter into national debate on major issues. The “Trigger” bill was passed in 2019, and three years later the US Supreme Court received Roev. Abortion was abolished when Wade was overturned.

Lamberth and Sen. Bo Watson began a similar fight this year to reverse the 1982 Supreme Court ruling requiring school districts to register undocumented immigrant children. The effort died at the end of the session, but could reappear in 2026.

Gender Sen. Jack Johnson, who supports Care Bill’s sponsorship, said the impact of the law’s effects on state rights “cannot be overstated.”

Johnson also said right-wing podcast host Matt Walsh deserves credit for the legislation to report allegations that Vanderbilt University Medical Center affirms the gender of a child.

“These are decisions that your elected representative should make,” Johnson is not an unelected federal judge.

US Senator Marsha Blackburn sees anti-transgender rally in Nashville

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skulmetti responded to questions about parents making their last efforts to keep their children alive, an ACLU lawyer told the court last December that gender-positive care would not affect suicide rates.

“I think a lot of parents are under pressure through the idea that they can have a dead son or a living daughter to perform these treatments,” Skrmetti said. “The research is not there.”

Skrmetti acknowledged that these situations are “a heavy burden” for families, but said that the overwhelming number of children who deal with what he called “gender confusion” in his youth will grow from it, unless they receive irreversible treatment.

Skrmetti further called pro-care gender research “fraud” and described the incident as one of the “class wars” between groups such as the Lambda Legal and the Biden administration and common sense Americans.

“When researchers actually look at science and clean up science rather than ideologically based science, the evidence shows that they don’t give these treatments to children,” Skrmetti said.

Their stance was not exactly aligned with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lambda Legal stance.

ACLU lawyer Chase Stringio, the transgender person who first discussed before the Supreme Court, said Wednesday that the ruling was a “devastating attack” on transgender people.

“As a parent, there’s nothing more scared than having your child suffer and the government come in and put your best judgment on healthcare about your child,” Stringio said.

Karen Loewy of Lambda Legal, reflecting his statement, said the court’s ruling makes it difficult for young trans people to refuse to deny the risk and their ability to seek medical care that is needed.

The court found that Tennessee law did not discriminate against children seeking gender-affirming care, but failed to uphold the entire Court of Appeals’ decision after overturning the court’s decision.

“Even young people and other forms of discrimination did not mandate other gender prohibitions or squeeze the green light,” Lowey said. “It’s about how we saw this specific ban in Tennessee.”

In light of that, look for groundbreaking rulings that will unfold elsewhere. Otherwise, we’ll take this issue up as soon as Congress passes the president’s “big and beautiful” budget.

The honeymoon is over

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell set out in power in 2023 and aims to develop relationships with Tennessee Republicans shortly after the attempted legislative acquisition of Davidson County.

Less than two years later, the relationship appears to be on ice (allows puns).

They didn’t swim between the mayor and state leaders as US immigration and customs enforcement agencies and federal agents sweeps in South Nashville and arrested nearly 200 people.

The mayor met with Gov. Bill Lee every month, but he doesn’t have a beer with legislative leader. And it’s not clear if he’ll talk to Lee anymore.

Democrat O’Connell has updated an executive order from former Mayor David Brilly, requiring Metronashville officials to report their encounter with ice agents within 24 hours. Metro also misrepresented the names of three federal agents online, but they defeated them and proposed a bill that targets major state legislators target O’Connell or other local government officials identifying people on the ice.

Tennessee GOP lawmakers are calling for investigation of Nashville Mayor in immigration detention

House Speaker Cameron Sexton also urged O’Connell to withdraw the executive order, putting the safety of agents at risk and accusing Metro of escalating the situation by turning it into “Big Brother.” Perhaps he didn’t know that the order was six years old, or maybe he needed a clearer definition of “Big Brother.”

O’Connell runs under the radar – primarily pushing for increased property taxes in Davidson County to fund transportation plans, but it gives people how he feels, especially as these dragets affect his components.

The mayor was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he had stood on ice, he would have lost all the support of his local area. Show, a small support for immigration, received support from Republican lawmakers.

Participating in the onslaught on O’Connell is hosted by Governor Randy McNally and Sen. Jack Johnson, Sen. Franklin, hosts Republican senators who co-host the bill.

McNally doesn’t think the mayor should know anything about federal law enforcement activities.

Asked if the mayor should be notified if Metro officials contact ICE, McNally said that if federal agents engage in drug attacks, the mayor is not required to notify him.

But what if Metro staff come across ice? “The more people you know, the more it leaves,” McNally said.

The problem is that when federal agents began pulling people out of the streets and sending them to Salvador prisons, perhaps without legitimate procedures, the words seem to be leaked.

And what complicates the matter is that some of the people sent to the prison legally entered the country, according to a study by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

The legislature jumped to Metronashville three years ago with smart laws designed to give the state more power over Davidson County decisions. These moves came in response to the Metronashville Council’s rejection of the Republican National Convention.

Some of these cases continue.

In its latest ruling, the Court of Appeals found that Congress has the power to cut Metro Council in half without voters or council permission. Most Nashvilians are opposed to the move, but some believe that without the council’s 40 members, the council could be more efficient.

But Republican lawmakers claim the cities that the state created and therefore control them, but they were obvious political manipulations. This kind of movement is becoming more and more popular, setting a higher barrier between Republican lawmakers and O’Connell.

“Who was the first? No, who was the first?”

Tennessee Sen. Bill Powers has left this week’s run due to a seat in the 7th Congressional District, vacant by Republican US Rep. Mark Green.

It only has around ten left in the hunt for the Republican primary.

On the democratic side, potential candidates are former Nashville mayors John Cooper and Megan Barry, state Rep. Beau Mitchell, state Rep. Vincent Dixie, state Rep. Aftin Ben, Darden Copeland, and founders of the public relations firm Calvert Street Group.

Travel abroad

Gov. Bill Lee and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWater took another trip this week to Paris, a small city beyond the pond that placed Ruler on the guillotine about 230 years ago.

During the Paris Air Show, Lee, McWater and Haumet Aerospace Officials announced the expansion of the company in Morristown to create 217 jobs, in addition to the 50 announced in 2024.

The Tennessee observation deck could not know how much the governor and commissioners were spending on their trip. But it’s safe to say they don’t need to maintain the light at Motel 8.

McWater and deputy commissioner Allen Borden spent more than $32,450 on a four-day trip to Sydney and Brisbane, flying first class and stayed in a five-star hotel last year on a recruitment trip to Australia. Lee and other state officials made similar trips to France and Italy in November 2023, which cost $117,000.

The governor refused to directly respond to McWhorter’s costs last year, but said the state recruited $35 billion worth of investments from Tennessee, creating 200,000 jobs, making it a good trade-off.

So, “Let them eat cake,” a phrase that led to the decapitation of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

“You say you change the constitution / You know / We all want to change your head.” The Beatles – Revolution