Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and LGBT activists in the Michigan legislature were dealt a massive defeat on Thursday after a lengthy battle over a law that threatened to ruin counselors who help gender-confused children by compassionately grounding them in reality, not affirming delusions. Luke Goodrich, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and attorney for the counselors, said in a statement, "This is a major victory for children, counselors, and common sense."'Michigan is now admitting its law is unconstitutional.'"Kids who are hurting deserve compassion, not a one-way ticket to harmful drugs, hormones, and surgery," added the attorney. Democrats in Michigan and Colorado put smiles on fellow LGBT activists' faces in recent years by passing laws prohibiting so-called "conversion therapy" for minors.Under Democrats' House Bills 4616 and 4617 in Michigan and House Bill 19-1172 in Colorado — which defined "conversion therapy" as efforts to "change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity" — psychiatrists and mental health care providers who failed to indulge delusions or affirm homosexual inclination could face disciplinary actions, lose their licenses, and/or receive enormous fines.Of course, these laws did not similarly prohibit gender ideologues from encouraging confused kids in therapy sessions to embrace the delusion that they are actually members of the opposite sex or to undergo sex-rejection medical procedures.RELATED: Oregon's war on confused children, by the numbers: It's REALLY bad Alex Kraus/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesAfter ratifying her state's version of the prohibition on reality-affirming counseling in July 2023, Whitmer stated, "We are banning the horrific practice of conversion therapy in Michigan and ensuring this is a state where you can be who you are.""As a mom of a member of the community and a proud, lifelong ally, I am grateful that we are taking action to make Michigan a more welcoming, inclusive place," added Whitmer, whose daughter identifies as a lesbian.The following year, a licensed Catholic therapist living in Lansing, Emily McJones, and the Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee, and Hillsdale Counties filed a federal lawsuit against Whitmer and the state of Michigan, arguing that HB 4616 constituted an attempt to control counselors' speech that violates several constitutional protections."It violates the Free Speech Clause because it regulates speech based on its content and viewpoint and cannot satisfy strict scrutiny," said the complaint. "It violates the Due Process Clause because it employs vague, undefined terms that invite arbitrary and selective enforcement. And it violates the Free Exercise Clause because it targets religious speech and interferes with the right of parents to direct the religious upbringing of their children."The lawsuit noted further that the law harms children, not only because it deprived them of the compassionate counseling they need but forced counselors "to 'affirm' children in the belief that they were born in the wrong body and help them undergo permanent, life-altering medical procedures that many will come to regret."The plaintiffs suffered an initial setback in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, where Judge Jane Beckering — an appointee of former President Joe Biden — denied their motion for a preliminary injunction and claimed that therapy amounts to conduct rather than protected speech.In December 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the Biden judge's decision. The case was subsequently kicked back to the district court, which issued a preliminary injunction against the law. The final resolution of the matter was, however, put on the back burner pending the result of the Supreme Court's decision in Chiles v. Salazar regarding the law in Colorado. On March 31, SCOTUS determined that Colorado's ban "regulates speech based on viewpoint" in violation of the First Amendment.In light of the decisions by the Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit, the district court in Michigan delivered a final ruling on Thursday, permanently banning the enforcement of Whitmer's controversial law."The Court hereby DECLARES that HB 4616, as applied to licensed mental health professionals engaged in therapy that consists exclusively of talking, violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," Beckering wrote in her final judgment. "The Court hereby PROHIBITS Defendants, their successors, agents, and all those acting in concert with them from enforcing HB 4616 against licensed professionals who engage in therapy that consists exclusively of talking.""Michigan is now admitting its law is unconstitutional," said Goodrich. "Its surrender confirms that the Constitution and the best available science are on the side of counselors who help children find peace with their bodies.
President Donald Trump's assertions of a Chinese conspiracy to undermine the 2020 U.S. elections are collapsing under scrutiny, according to The Washington Post. Twelve of the 15 states Trump identified as "compromised" in declassified documents reported they were never notified of any data breach. Florida's Department of State explicitly stated its voter registration data "has not been hacked." Declassified intelligence and state responses suggest China obtained voter data from non-governmental sources such as political parties and data compilation companies, not through hacking election systems. Experts reviewing the evidence concluded these activities were aimed at intelligence gathering, not election interference. Verified Voting chief Pamela Smith told the Washington Post, “They haven’t changed data. They haven’t modified data. They haven’t deleted data. They just have some data.”This represents another fact-check failure for Trump's election fraud claims, following expert debunking during his primetime address announcing these allegations.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
President Donald Trump conceded Thursday he may pull his own attorney general nominee rather than give two outgoing Republican senators what they are demanding.Trump made the admission on Truth Social after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination Wednesday night. The vote was canceled when it became clear two Republicans would block it.Those two senators — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — are leaving Congress at the end of the year. "Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time.""I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote.Trump also attacked both senators directly, calling them men "whose political careers have been ended by my action" — a reference to his decision not to endorse them. He added that "both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland," invoking former Attorney General Merrick Garland, a name Republicans cite as a symbol of Democratic overreach.On Capitol Hill Thursday morning, Cornyn told reporters the situation had taken a turn for the worse. Asked whether Blanche could be confirmed before the August recess, he said the odds were against it."It's looking doubtful," Cornyn told reporters, according to NBC News congressional reporter Laura Weiss.Cornyn said talks with Blanche had been "very constructive" and that he believed a deal was close Tuesday night. But by Thursday morning, something had shifted."Other people intervening," he said. He told NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin he did not know whether the president himself was standing in the way.At the heart of the standoff is a settlement Trump's Department of Justice reached with the Internal Revenue Service. The deal granted Trump and his family immunity from tax audits and created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who said they had been targeted by the government for political reasons.The fund was later abandoned, but Cornyn wants that abandonment in writing — and wants the audit immunity narrowed so it does not cover future tax filings, according to MS NOW."All I want them to do is to confirm what he said in his sworn testimony before the Judiciary Committee, with regard not only to the weaponization fund, but also who is protected from future audits and what agencies of the federal government are bound by the release," Cornyn told reporters, according to CBS News.The Department of Justice, Cornyn said, had not delivered. "They've simply refused to cooperate," he said, according to The Hill.As of Thursday morning, Cornyn said he was waiting on a DOJ response to his latest offer and had no meetings or calls scheduled with the White House or the Department of Justice.
President Donald Trump's grand claims of a Chinese conspiracy to undermine U.S. elections in 2020 is already falling apart, according to a new report. Twelve out of the 15 states listed as "compromised" in documents declassified by the president "said officials never notified them of a data breach," The Washington Post reported on Thursday.“Florida voter registration data has not been hacked,” Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State, led by a Republican appointee, told the Post. "The states’ responses and newly declassified intelligence reports suggest China obtained voter data from other sources," the report states, "such as political parties or companies that compile and combine it with other information to target voters or consumers."This contradicts Trump's claims, made during a primetime address earlier this month, that he had proof China interfered in the election by obtaining voter information. Experts reviewing the evidence said these activities "appeared aimed at collecting data on Americans for intelligence purposes, not interfering with voting."Verified Voting chief Pamela Smith bluntly told The Post, “They haven’t changed data. They haven’t modified data. They haven’t deleted data. They just have some data.”This is not the first time Trump's new election fraud claims have faced fact checks. Even as he delivered his speech, experts pointed out the documents Trump was declassifying didn't indicate any substantial foreign plot to compromise voting systems.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said that his office will probe Dr. Anthony S. Fauci to get to the bottom of the retired health official’s role during […]
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he would be “happy” to share the “mountain” of evidence on Anthony Fauci with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has pledged to probe into the scientist over his handling of COVID-19. Paul spoke with political commentator Benny Johnson following a Senate hearing in which Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment […]
