The Supremes Limit Judicial Overreach

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Message and data rates may apply, see terms for details. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun toton, Bible-clanging, deplorable American. Say yeah. That's right. I love this American.

Todd. Stars. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to a Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show, coast to coast, on more than 150 tremendous radio stations and streaming live all over the place, including at ToddStarns.com. Hello, fellow patriots, Jeff Stein in the air chair today for Todd. Todd is in the nation's capital, speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to the Majority conference and also sharing the good message of star-spangled blessings to a worthy audience out there.

And it gives me the privilege to be here behind the microphone and converse with you on this open line Friday from the Liberty University studio. Today, located in my home base, News Talk 1540 KXEL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch, scorching the heartland with accurate news and reasonable views. It is an open line Friday. We have some wonderful guests to Talk about some very important topics, but I'd love to hear from you. 901-260-5926.

Same number as always, 901-260-5926. Among the guests on the program today, we'll have a representative from the Southeastern Legal Foundation to talk about one of the major Supreme Court decisions handed down today. This is the Mahmoud versus Taylor case, and that may not mean much to you, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing parents the option. to opt their kids out of learning from LGBTQ M-O-U-S-E themed books. Parental rights supported by the U.S.

Supreme Court today. What's the impact of that? We'll talk with Kim Herman of the Southeastern Legal Foundation. That's in hour number three. Also in hour number three.

Return guest to the program. He is Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn. And Congressman Nunn is also an Air Force combat veteran. He still holds the rank of colonel in the National Guard. And he served in the Middle East.

That military base in Qatar that was struck. Yeah, he flew out of there and has been in the briefings and knows all about the bombing situation and can separate fact from fiction. Congressman Zach Nunn returns to the program. That's in hour three. We have others as well.

But again, your calls at 901-260-5926 on this open line Friday.

Now, let's go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line and start by welcoming the host of the program. He is the best-selling author, Newsmax host, and host of this program. Program Todd Starnes. Mr. Starnes, good day to you, sir.

Jeff, great to hang out with you, and thank you for filling in on the last minute, my friend. And you pulled my fat out of the fire, as they say.

Well, it was 90 minutes before showtime, but I'm always happy to make sure your fat's in the right place, if I'm playing that analogy out.

So now you can save mine by rescuing this segment. Where are you today? Again, I gave the title, but give us a sense of how you're spending your day, sir. Jeff, I'm in Washington at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to the Majority Conference, Governor Glenn Youncken. Just wrapped up Robart.

And as I'm actually on my way to the Capitol building, the Speaker of the House has invited me over to visit for a few minutes. And so I'm busy heading over there for that. And of course, we'll be doing our news fact show from our bureau here in Washington over on K Street.

So a pretty busy day, but as you mentioned, a very exciting day and a jubilant day for people who are conservative with all of these great Supreme Court rulings that came down. We have talked a lot and with good reason about this court not supporting the Constitution in various ways. Today was quite an about face on this last day of the term. I already mentioned the tremendous ruling on parental rights. Let's start there.

That has to have a lot of the people you come in contact with gratified because, again, who knows better than a parent how to educate their children? No, it's a great point. And we just had an attorney on just yesterday involving a case out of Houston. Where the school district was treating their daughter as a boy. In during school hours.

And when you look at these kinds of rulings coming out, of course, this one out of Montgomery County, Maryland. very clear to me that the Supreme Court is firmly on the side of parental rights, that mom and dad know best, not the government and not the government funded school system. And as might be expected, the heads on the bodies of leftists are exploding all over the place today. That's not a bad thing. Todd Starnes, joining us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

The Newsmax program with Todd Starnes live at 5 o'clock Eastern today, and Mr. Starnes reporting from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. I am especially interested in this ruling that limits. inappropriate national injunctions issued in an overreaching manner by handpicked judges. That is a huge, huge benefit if those judges will actually follow the ruling of the court.

Well, yeah, I love what Justice Barrett wrote, Amy Coney Barrett, when she was talking about her. her colleague, Justice Jackson Brown. talking about the imperial judiciary, which is it's a great point. They keep accusing President Trump of being a dictator when in fact it's the judiciary that's overruling the President, and they have inserted themselves as the de facto leaders of the country. And this is something that must be addressed.

We've been dealing with the issue of lawfare. As well.

So there are a lot of issues at play here as the Supreme Court rulings come out today. I also want to weigh in on something else real quick here, Jeff. That's the BBB, the big beautiful bill. It is quite the mess, and there's been a lot of concern, and we're going to be talking about this later this evening on NewsFacts. About the Senate Majority Leader, John Boone.

Trying to understand the rationale for not removing the Senate parliamentarian who was originally appointed to that position by the late Harry Reed.

So a lot of people are really upset right now. And this parliamentarian is gutting the BBB of everything that President Trump wants in that bill. And that's going to be problematic, very problematic. The concept is that the parliamentarian, and I'm giving a loose description here, is to determine if a provision is appropriate or germane to a piece of legislation.

Well, if reconciliation is about budgetary matters, financial matters, etc., when you're talking about limiting money, That sure seems financial to me. It reads much more like an agenda to affect some sort of a social platform as opposed to doing the job of saying this has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with money, and that makes it fully germane in my view.

Well, of course, it does. But I'm telling you, Jeff, they can't play around with this. The Senate, they've got to get this through. The way it is right now, there's no way the House of Representatives is going to approve the changes the Senate's made here. And President Trump, it's interesting, he has decided to stay put in Washington at the White House.

He's not going to Bedminster this weekend. The President knows that this is a big deal, and he's going to do his best to press the flesh. make sure that he can get this um get this big the big beautiful go through. And again, I was stunned as so many, including you were, when Senator Thune immediately said, well, I'm not going to challenge the parliamentarian.

Well, what is the point of the majority if you're going to roll over on issues that are absolutely fundamental to why the American people put you there? Yeah, it's a great point. It's a great point. Jeff, I'm going to have to leave it there, my friends. We're knee-deep in DC traffic, but great job.

And again, I know our listeners are going to enjoy the conversation. with you today. mister Stearns will watch Newsmax at five o'clock Eastern. Thanks, Jeff. Todd Starnes, the host of this very radio program, and with Michelle Cox, the author of the.

Big bestseller, Star Spangled Blessings. And Mr. Starnes joined us live on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line, reporting from the nation's capital.

Now, this shows you the difference between me and Todd Starnes. And by the way, there's a long list of differences. He gets a call from the Speaker of the House saying, Why don't you come over to the Capitol? I don't get that call. And probably for very good reason.

Open line Friday, 901-260-5926. The Supreme Court decisions are huge today, and those have just been handed down, and that's why we're focusing on that, or we will here a little further in a bit. But to mister Starnes' excellent point, The Big Beautiful Bill Concept. Taking all of these points, putting them into reconciliation, etc., it's a masterful idea. But you've got to get it across the finish line.

And near as I can tell, Independence Day, if I'm reading my calendar right, is one week from today. Way back in April, when they were talking about various deadlines, well, the House will get it done by Memorial Day, and the Senate will then take care of it, and the President will sign it before Independence Day. We're thinking, wow, that's a long time in the future.

Well, here we are. We're only a week away. and the Senate has a mess. That even if they do pass it, Not only, as mister Starnes accurately pointed out, not only is it not going to be tenable to the House, it's not going to do what needs to be done. Uh There are a lot of people who are going to have to hold their noses and vote for this.

Because of the adverse consequences to the American taxpayer if it doesn't pass. And I'm going to circle back on that in a moment. But I think it's best that we take a break now and let you call in at 901-260-5926. I'll make a note so I don't forget, but I want to talk about what happens if the big beautiful bill does not pass. We'll do that after this short break from the Liberty University studio, Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd.

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That number again, 1-800-839-8506, promo code STARNS. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starnes show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today on an open line Friday, 901-260-5926. That's how you can connect with this coast-to-coast conversation. If you missed Mr.

Starnes calling in from Washington during the last segment, well, fear not, you can hear it. If you enjoyed it and would like to hear it again, there's always the Toddcast Podcast, and it's posted thanks to the good folks at Salem Podcast Network after the show. Just go to ToddStarnes.com for all of the information. Before the break, we were discussing the big, beautiful bill, the reconciliation package. Here is one of the fundamental things where Folks need to understand If the bill does not pass.

If something very similar to the core point of the bill, if that does not pass. Our taxes are going to skyrocket. The economy is going to crater. And businesses are going to sit on their cash. Why is that?

The fundamental point here. is that the twenty seventeen Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which many people simply call the Trump tax cuts. But it's the twenty seventeen Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It made it so you didn't have to worry, most of you, about itemizing your deductions on taxes because they raised the standard deduction so high. That saved you money.

There were various provisions for small businesses to where you could expense out in other words, deduct the cost of inventory and equipment in the year you paid for it as opposed to some very long amortization schedule. That's a big benefit. for expansion of business. That'll go away. all sorts of other provisions with regard to credits for child care and the exemptions for having children, et cetera.

All of this good stuff the last five years when you've been filing your taxes, And you've been saying, wow, this is really a benefit to me. All of that goes away because the 2017 Act had a sunset provision, I absolutely hate these because it's bad government and it's bad for business planning. Bad for you as a family. And an individual to plan. The bill specifically said it would sunset.

at the end of twenty twenty five. That means if no action is taken on the issue, we will revert back to the old. Rules. The lack of deductions that are available to you, the percentages, all of the good stuff of the last five years. Rolls back.

Now, Democrats would be just fine if that happened. Why? because the economy would crater at the time of a midterm election. The problem, and I've discussed this with you before, friends, is that. The Republicans have to get.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act across the finish line in a permanent way. Have to. Or else we're all going to be paying more next year, and that is going to cripple. The economy, and it's going to cripple the reelection chances of so many Republicans. They've got to get that across the finish line.

They determined the best way to do it because Democrats could filibuster. is to do reconciliation.

So the core of this whole thing Is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? The problem is, if the thing passes. The average citizen is not going to notice any difference whatsoever. And yes, that's a good thing, but it's not like you get a new benefit, it's just continuing. what you have to avoid a bad thing happening.

If it doesn't pass, bad things happen, and who's in charge? Republicans.

So, they're not going to get the credit for getting it across the finish line, but they'll get all the blame if it doesn't. Go across.

So it's not a great situation. It's not like they can say, look at all these great things we did for you, because it's just simply maintaining what we're used to. But they have to do it. And they're tacking on all of these other things that would be really good But the problem is, now we're getting bogged down. The bill has to be passed to make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions.

permanent. The rest of it? Yes, it'd be really nice to have the rest of it. But it's a situation of this has got to get done, and it's got to get done right now. It's already taken up too much time.

taking the air out of the room on so many other issues. And One thing we saw from a business standpoint, and I do a lot of reporting, I do a syndicated program on business.

So I do a lot of reporting on business, talking to economists, talking to business owners. Once they knew that Trump would be elected, in other words, 2024, they were kind of skittish.

Now we don't know what's going to happen. Let's wait to see who wins the election. Oh, Trump won?

Okay. It was off to the races then from Election Day into early 2025. People were freer with their money. There was certainty Businesses and individuals, but especially businesses, need certainty for planning.

Well, when the Congress just was kind of dragging its feet on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. recertification What are these businesses doing? They're sitting on their cash. They're sitting on their hands. They're not doing anything.

You get this bill with those provisions passed and signed by the President, the economy is going to be off to the races because that's the certainty that we need. But they've got to do it. And that's the problem.

So, the sooner this gets passed, the sooner the president signs it. The more certainty we have, and the economy is going to go off to the races, which is good for all of us.

So in terms of how about you guys get your act together? Yeah, maybe Starnes at the Capitol can knock some heads like he does at the Memphis Radio Studio. 901-260-5926, Liberty University Studio Open Line Friday. Jeff Stein in for Todd Starnes. Come on back after this break on the Todd Starnes Show.

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So sign up now at chumbacasino.com. That's chumba casino.com. necessary VGW group void where prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn show Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today 901-260-5926 is how you can connect and this coast-to-coast conversation has great meaning I want to talk a bit about the Supreme Court rulings that were handed down today it's the last day of the term etc etc and some real blockbusters Came down today and This is Something that I have really been interested in was to see if the Supreme Court would limit the power of independent. District court judges. And I'm not going to get in the weeds on this, and I'm not going to turn it into a law school class, but as a lawyer, I have never understood.

How these nationwide injunctions could be in any way sanctioned or constitutional. Here's how the thing works. You've got the federal court system that's separate from each individual state court system.

So you've got the federal court system that deals with federal provisions. There are different circuits in the country. The country is divided by state into different regions or they call them circuits.

So for example, I am in Iowa, that is part of the Eighth Circuit, Iowa and some surrounding states. those circuit courts Their rulings are appealed to the Supreme Court.

So you start at your local courthouse in your state, in a federal district court. The appeals process goes to the circuit court, which is regional, and it goes from there to a national level at the Supreme Court, should the Supreme Court choose to accept the appeal. They don't have to accept it. They can't possibly accept them all. Last I knew it was something like 3% of all cases that are appealed to the Supreme Court from the federal circuit court actually are heard by the U.S.

Supreme Court. They take issues that are of great importance, broad impact, and take cases when there is a split in the circuits.

So here's something that's a little goofy about our system, but I think it will help you understand why today's ruling on these nationwide injunctions just made perfect sense.

So let's say there is a case. That emanates in the state of Iowa, and it goes through to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Eighth Circuit is headquartered in St. Louis, and the Eighth Circuit has a ruling. Yeah.

That ruling is only good for the Eighth Circuit, the States in that jurisdiction. In other words, the Circuit Court has jurisdiction over its States. The Ninth Circuit, West Coast, includes California. It's the one, the circuit that traditionally is most often overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In other words, like so many things, apologies to our friends listening or living in or stranded in California, but as with so many things that come out of California, it's just out of step with the rest of the nation. And so, with that Ninth Circuit often being overruled at the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court is there to kind of keep a check on things.

Well, let's say the Eighth Circuit rules one way, the Ninth Circuit rules a different way. That means you have inconsistent procedures depending on where in the country you live. And that's not what you want. You want consistent interpretation. And so, as those cases are appealed to the U.S.

Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court then can say, okay, look, here's an issue. We've got one circuit who says it's X and another circuit that says it's Y. We've got to resolve this dispute.

Okay, that's your law school class for the day. That's how things work.

So given the fact that the circuits are limited in jurisdiction. How in the world could a single district court judge issue a ruling? And have the audacity to say that it appeals or that it applies, I'm sorry, applies nationwide. It is the height of arrogance. The district judge Has jurisdiction over that district, that court.

If you don't like it, you appeal it within that system, that circuit.

So for these judges And federal judges are Are typically very well qualified, highly educated, very experienced, approved by Congress. Right, the Senate approval function?

So it's not like they just, you know, fell off the truck. They're not slouches, but the federal district court is at the lower level as opposed to the Court of Appeals, Circuit Court. or the U.S. Supreme Court. Mm-hmm.

So how do you get someone? At the lowest rung of the federal system, and again, that's just a description of the fact that there are others higher up. It's not diminishing those judges necessarily. How do they get off saying, well, I'm going to rule in a certain way, and I'm going to say it applies across the country? It makes no sense whatsoever.

It is completely beyond their jurisdiction.

Now, does that lead to problems with folks having to go to court in many places around the country? Yeah, it does, but this is how it's set up. jurisdictionally. You don't want somebody from a different state. weighing in on what you're doing.

Again, apologies to our friends and listeners in California, but you want California judges? Handling things in Arkansas, in Tennessee, and Mississippi? I don't think so.

So the system is set up this way for a reason. And for some of these judges, To believe they have the national authority. To override a decision of a popularly elected president. Any popularly elected president. That is an awful lot of ego right there.

And if you're bringing a case in court. You will typically Try to find a jurisdiction that you think is friendly. if you have a chance. They're all supposed to be the same, right? But I know from my time in a lawyer, if I had certain orders that I needed to get signed, etcetera., there were certain judges that I'd be glad to go and see, because it was easier to get things signed and moved along as opposed to others.

And if it wasn't time sensitive, would you take a chance with a judge that you just weren't sure what they were going to do? Or would you bring your material? To a judge that you felt that you had a good rapport with, or who would be more likely to approve what it is you brought before them.

So, folks file lawsuits in places around the country. where they think it's going to work to their benefit. Why do you think so many of these radical cases The cases that are trying to stop common sense decisions. Why are they always filed in these big blue cities? Because they think there's a better chance they're going to get the outcome they want.

And again, that's part of the game. I don't like it, but that's part of the game. but when one of those rogues wearing a robe, issues a ruling and says it applies nationwide. That just cannot be.

So now let's get to what Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the six-three opinion. The U.S. Supreme Court today granted a partial stay of nationwide injunctions issued by district judges against presidential executive orders. That means you can't enforce them. If an order is stayed, it means it can't be enforced.

Six three opinion The three Liberals dissented.

Now the court And this is appropriate. The court said it was not deciding whether the executive order. And this had to do with birthright citizenship. The court was not deciding the executive order's constitutionality. They limited it.

to say whether a single judge has the authority to issue universal injunctions. And that is the bigger issue, friends. The U.S. Supreme Court said the single judge. at the lowest level of the ladder, does not have the authority to issue these widespread injunctions.

Only to the extent That the injunctions are necessary to provide relief to each plaintiff withstanding to sue. That's the legal language. What it says is, you cannot, judge, issue an order that is broader than the case before you. The case before you has one individual. or a team of individuals, etcetera.

You cannot go beyond the case before you. That's the job of the Appeals Court.

So once again This is a big thing from a precedent value. This is the U.S. Supreme Court saying to these district judges: don't overstep or overreach your authority.

Now here's my concern. Because we've already seen it. We've already seen some of these district judges ignore rulings from the Supreme Court in the last few months and do what they want to do anyway. Because it fits their agenda. Clear violation of what the Supreme Court said.

Forcing the people who are trying to get relief in court to appeal And the lower court judge's order gets overturned. And in the end, all is right with the world, but at what delay time wise, at what cost time wise? In other words, I have real concern that some of these activist judges at the lower level are going to ignore this ruling or try to Thread the needle. Issue a broad injunction. and dare people to appeal that ruling and go up the ladder.

Because what's the worst thing that happens in that judge's mind?

Well, guess I got overturned, but I got my way. For weeks or months? I made them have to work for it. There's no scoreboard kept. On how many times judges are overturned on appeal.

And maybe there ought to be. Maybe there's something about performance here. Yeah. Now the histrionics from the left. We're on full display here.

And again, I'm talking about a U.S. Supreme Court decision that limits individual district judges from issuing nationwide. injunctions. Justice Sonia Sotomayor. read her dissent From the bench.

See, usually they just issue rulings, but when a justice feels especially interested in an issue. That justice will read His or her descent in front of God and everybody. And that is what Justice Oda Mayor did today. I'm going to just read you two paragraphs. And just imagine.

The fury that she's trying to whip up in people with this. Because the ruling simply says judges have to limit themselves to their own jurisdiction. That's it. Here's what Justice Sotomayor read aloud: No right is safe in the new legal regime the court creates. Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship.

Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law-abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship.

Okay, stop there with that quote. What she is trying to do is instill fear. in supporters of Donald Trump. That's a direct threat.

Well, if this goes through, the next time a Democrat's in charge, you better just stack your weapons up at the church door and don't. Don't go inside the church. I read that as a suggested threat. She goes on. The majority holds that absent cumbersome class action litigation.

Courts cannot completely enjoy even such plainly unlawful policies. How do you know it's plainly unlawful until the case is litigated? This is another one of these fictions. They're telling you what the Fourteenth Amendment means. without judicial interpretation of what it means.

She closes by saying that that holding renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit. Because I will not be complicit in so grave an attack on our system of law, I dissent.

Alright, bye-bye. You've had your moment. Did you see the game that's being played here?

Okay. They know. that these national injunctions Exceed the authority of a judge. And now what they're saying is, since they were caught at it, All right, but just wait till we're in charge. You tell me that you read that any other way.

That's a direct threat.

There are some very valid arguments on what the Fourteenth Amendment means with regard to birthright citizenship. The issue deserves to be litigated. and not with propaganda, From a person wearing a robe 901-260-5926. That's how you can join our Open Line Friday coast-to-coast conversation. Short break now, back on the other side.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. This is the Todd Star and Show. Step into the world of Power, loyalty. And luck. I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.

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Open line Friday, 901-260-5926. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. He's reporting from Washington, D.C. today, and he will be with you on the Newsman Show. That's at 5 o'clock Eastern.

In our remaining moments this hour, another ruling that was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court not that long ago this morning, the Supreme Court upheld that meant approves of. Allows to remain in place a Texas law aimed at blocking children under 18 from seeing online pornography.

Now, nearly half of all states in this country have passed these age verification laws. And often, and this was a 6-3 ruling, an adult industry, adult entertainment industry trade group challenged the Texas law, but the Texas law stands. Because the challenge was to say, and even the dissenting justices agreed, those under 18 should not be seeing porn.

Okay, they shouldn't. But again, All you have to do on the site is say, yes, I'm 18, click and go on. The Texas law requires a little more verification, but that's not determined to be an undue burden. We've only got two minutes, but let's go to the listener line. And Steve is calling in from Little Rock, listening on the KWAM app.

Let's get your call in, Steve. What's your question? Yes, Jeff. I've been listening to this about these judges ever since Trump was went into office. And with all the rulings that they've made that Sounds like they're grossly overreaching their authority.

I never hear anybody talk about is there a process? And if it is, what does it take to trigger it to remove a federal judge from the bench? They can be impeached. Yes, clearly. There is an impeachment process that goes through the system, and you've got a real problem with this is because you've got to have a track record.

Yeah. Rulings that are not just simply overturned, Steve, but that they're rulings that are overturned maliciously.

So, for example, what I just suggested is that there may be some judges who just ignore this ruling.

Well, you start ignoring Supreme Court rulings, now you're getting dangerously close to showing that deliberate nature that could lead to impeachment. Do you have any concerns that this is going to that using the impeachment is going to blow back and hurt our side later? Uh No, well, I don't know about that. I do know that if somebody doesn't. Start the process and try to do something about it, that's going to hurt the country a lot more.

I'm not that concerned about the Republican Party or the Republican. No, that's a fair point, Steve. And you hear the music, we're up against it. You're exactly right. And I think, Steve from Little Rock, thank you for calling.

Your point is so right on. It has to start somewhere.

So the abuse of power stops in this country. Back after this on the Todd Starn Show. Ryan Seacrest here. When you have a busy schedule, it's important to maximize your downtime. One of the best ways to do that is by going to chumbacasino.com.

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Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. It's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr. Satsu! Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to our two of a Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show. Coast to coast on more than 150 tremendous radio stations and streaming live all over the place, including at ToddStarnes.com.

Hello, fellow Patriots. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He is in D.C. He joined us in the first hour of the program, probably at this point meeting with the Speaker of the House. And he'll share all of that on the Newsmax show.

You can watch that at 5 o'clock Eastern as you normally do. Todd's Newsmax show live from the nation's capital today. And it is an open line Friday.

So that means we invite you to join us here in the Liberty University studio by connecting on the Coast to Coast Conversation at 901-260-5926. 901-260-5926. And today, the Liberty University studio is in my home base at News Talk 1540 KXCL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch, scorching the heartland with accurate. news and reasonable views. Let's go to the phone lines because Jerry is calling in.

He listens in Little Rock on the KWAM app. Jerry, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. What's on your mind? Good afternoon, sir. Oh yeah, talk.

Well, I'm doing great. I wanted to talk about a topic that has been in the news this week. It's probably still going to be pushed to the side now, what we call the Big, beautiful build build up. The Supreme Court stuff, but I'm of the opinion that this ranked choice voting. is absolutely uncomfortable.

Yeah. And I believe that the repercussions of it a fact the entire nation potentially, even if it's just a marriage race. in one of our major cities. I was wondering, you know, since it's open line Friday, we're already in the legal weeds and You have a law degree. Are you a practicing lawyer or a recovering lawyer?

I am recovering, but the thing I can't seem to recover from is radio broadcasting. I was I've been doing that longer, but uh I still have hope.

Well we Sure, enjoy it. But anyway, I was wondering, is there anything that same state attorneys general can do to bring suit? to stop this.

Well, let's take a step back, Jerry, and explain for the folks what this ranked choice voting thing is. The concept is that instead of having One person is a Democrat, one is a Republican, one might have registered as a Libertarian. What you do is you go through, and everybody runs on one ballot, and then you winnow down. To who actually then squares off in the final election. And it could be done within a primary, but generally we're talking about general elections.

And there are variations of that, okay, but that's the short of it. Every state has its own voting laws. And this gets to your answer, Jerry. Every state has its own voting laws. And so the legislators.

Set the terms. Each state could could uh have laws That limit it to recognized political parties or those who have petitioned to be on a ballot. The ones that have ranked choice voting have specifically Asked for it. They've specifically put it in place. And the problem to me of this is, and especially in some of these big blue states, you wind up with.

the top two vote getters being Democrats. And they score off in a general election. In other words, you have this big mass open primary, and if you have ranked choice voting, not only does it mean that you might have two from the same party running, but again, to see who makes the runoffs in these, you have to go through and see who a second choice might be and a third choice, and it just complicates things. To where it seems to me there's an agenda that some people are trying to fulfill by doing it. And that alone makes me suspicious.

What do you think? I think what happened to one man, one vote, pardon me, one person, one vote. Sure. You know, and they accuse Republicans always of doing anything we can to suppress voters, you know, voter for suppression. I can't imagine anything.

that would suppress people voting more than If you have a ranked towards primary and nobody gets fifty percent, you have to come back in a week or two and do it all over again?

Well, it's a complete waste of time, a complete waste of money. And again, why is it that they're doing it that way? It's not to encourage more voting. I just get the sense it's to encourage a certain outcome. And it's the same thing, and you know this, but it's a broad.

Concept. The people who are screaming the loudest about what the other side is doing that's bad. Probably means they're doing the same thing but worse. Right? And so when they're talking about Republican attempts to limit elections and limit voting.

Well, what are they doing on their side? These kinds of shenanigans which are actually worse. Everything they do is projection. Anytime they accuse any of us of something, you can bet your butt they're doing it themselves. Oh, absolutely right.

Absolutely right. Jerry, thanks so much for calling in from Little Rock. I'll take a little more on this topic here, but I'll let you get free to do your important work today out there and about. You know, one of the things that has always struck me when the it's typically Democrats, right, who say we should not have voter ID.

Okay. Yeah. You can just show up and on your good looks and charm be able to vote. We don't require an ID. All right, that's just stupid.

It is ridiculous and it is Stupid. We had a situation here in my state of Iowa not that long ago. Where The state officials wanted to pass a law and said, okay, you need to have some form of ID, and you have to bring it with you when you vote. And the folks on the left howled, This is going to be horrible for people of color, it's going to be horrible for young people, it's going to be horrible for the elderly. We're going to they're they're just not going to be able to vote.

And I thought to myself, not only is that high-handed and condescending, against certain groups. But it's also false, and here's why. If you want to go, To the library, the public library, and you want to check out a book, you want to check out a D V D, etcetera, whatever it is that you get from the library, what do you have to show them? Library card? And you can get a library card very easily.

But one of the things That they were screaming about in my state was: well, we can't require people to have an ID of any kind. And there were a variety of forms of identification. It's not like you had to go and just get one thing like a driver's license, although that does work. There were a variety of things you could show to prove you were who you were. Long list.

But these same people whined and moaned about these classes of people Because again, the left is all about classifying people.

So I walked into the public library one day. To check out a book, and I looked, and there was a senior citizen. There was a younger person under the age of twenty, probably? And there was a person of colour. And each one of them was holding in their respective hands what?

A library card.

So, in other words, we were saying that you had to do more. to borrow a book or a D V D from a public library. than to cast a vote To sustain representative democracy.

Now how on its head and stupid is that? We're requiring more out of you. To check out a ten-dollar DVD or a five-dollar paperback book. You have to do more to prove who you are for those things, but when it comes time to determine the path of government, nah, come on in. We don't need an ID.

We don't need, and that's why I just, the rank choice thing. They make it sound like it's more democratic, small D democratic, but it's really not. It's really rigging a system.

Well, shouldn't we have the two top vote-getters? No, no, we shouldn't. And then go back and try to Predict whose second choices would have been, etc. You can't predict these things. And it's such a mess.

This is why In the city of New York, and this is why Jerry, who called in a moment ago, was talking about ranked choice voting being in the news. That's why Eric Adams did not run in the Democrat primary in New York. The incumbent, he's running as an independent. 'Cause he knew he couldn't win the primary. And now you've got Andrew Cuomo, who by all rights could have forced additional elections.

No, he conceded the Democrat nomination.

So he can run as an Independent. 'Cause it's an easier path.

So, for those who say, well, we need this ranked choice voting.

So that we have the opportunity to have more diverse viewpoints represented? No. You get the petition. You can be on ballot by petition. Obviously, there's no place for atoms in the current.

Democrat Party of New York. Or for Cuomo. There are some folks saying, boy, the Republicans are kicking themselves for not challenging Curtis Sleewa, who's been running as a Republican for mayor several times, the Guardian Angels founder. excellent public-minded human being, but Look at what could happen in this general election. If you're one of the rabid socialists, okay, you'll vote for.

the guy who apparently won or at least got most votes in the primary. But how many will siphon off from that? For Cuomo or Adams. It's going to be very interesting to see how that all plays out. But the short answer, Jerry, is each state has its own laws for elections from what you have to prove to get there, what method, of ballot is used.

You know, optical scan or on a computer or whatever. what the polling place hours are. the whole bit. And there are a lot of folks who say, well, why can't we Standardize that nationally. I don't want a national election.

This is a republic. made up of individual states. When the Federal Government takes something over, they screw it up. That's why the federal government was designed to do limited things like. protection of citizens.

Like having a military that can go knock out a threat. half a planet away. That's what the federal government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to be worried about. when the poles are open in a certain state.

So, in that way, you can rid yourselves of things like ranked choice voting and all of these other made-up things. by making sure your local officials, your local lawmakers have proper, strong election laws. And you can do that at home. nine oh one two six zero five nine two six. We welcome your calls in the Liberty University studio.

More of your calls on the other side at the bottom of the hour. Joe Messina back on the program. Looking forward to talk about news of the day with him. 901-260-5926. That's the number.

Use it. We'll talk to you in the next segment. Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Star and Show. Riley Herps from 2311 Racing here. And you know what grinds my gears?

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Welcome back to the Liberty University studio in the Todd Starn show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. 901-260-5926 is how you can join the coast-to-coast conversation. That is the number that Mike used. Local call for him.

Listening on the mighty 990 in Memphis. Mike, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. What's on your mind? Greetings, Jeff. Yes, I know you know this, but for all the homeschoolers out there that are on the summer break and listening, when you reference a Democratic Republic, you know that the word democratic or democratic is nowhere in the Constitution, right?

We have a republic. Exactly. The Article 4 guarantees a Republican form of government. And I was just trying to dovetail into the previous caller. The Constitution is the foundation, and that's what every justice should adhere to in every Law students should be schooled in, but unfortunately it seems that they're going down a path of precedence over the Constitution.

And when the Supreme Court ruled against birthright citizenship or for it, The reality is that In the Constitution, there's no such thing as a citizen of the United States. Uh because Well, it was never intended for the government to. Strip us of our rights through issuing privileges and creating statutes that would eliminate those rights systematically. And those are the things that we need to clean up. And cleaning house, they could literally eliminate.

In it. statute that says it's a crime for possession of and then fill in the blind because Oh, a safety thing. Must have 80% of the people in federal prisons are there for violation of possession of some thief. as opposed to harming someone. No, that's a fair point.

And Mike, your call was breaking up, and I'm not sure if it was on your end or my end, but thank you for that. And I'll pick up on that here in the remaining couple of minutes that we have. This again, and Mike brings up an excellent point. You have to watch every word that is used, right? When we hear all of these people talk about people on the left, say, well, it's a democracy.

Not in a pure form. A democracy is everybody votes on everything. If anything, we have a representative. form of government. And again, it is a republic.

But on a lot of these laws that Mike was referencing there, you know, the elected representatives are passing these laws. challenge them to be unconstitutional if you like But these are elected representatives making the laws. And that's why I think it's such a big deal that we have different voting laws in the different states. because I don't want one national standard. Because again, I don't trust the national government, the federal government, because it has from almost the beginning.

Overreached on its authority. And that's certainly the case with the judiciary. How is it that the Supreme Court became The ultimate arbiter of whether something is legal or constitutional. They called it. Marbury versus Madison is the case within the first half dozen years of the government.

They basically said we have the right to determine that this is how we're going to exercise the check and balance. They, in essence, determined that they had the right themselves.

Alright, so it's a little circular. in that respect. But we've got along with it. Four. Lo these nearly two hundred.

Years that we've actually had the government, more than 200 years, 1798 with the Constitution. By the way, we talked in the last hour about the big, beautiful bill. and whether it would be passed in time for Independence Day. The President has some plans, by the way. For the Independence Day holiday.

First of all, there's a lot of talk about restoring fireworks to Mount Rushmore next year, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was actually on July 2nd, not July 4th, but that's another story for another day. Remember when he had the Independence Day fireworks at Mount Rushmore before? Ah, it's just stunning. What a great thing to restore. But he's kicking off America 250.

They had the big Army 250 parade back on June 14th, Flag Day, but he's going to be in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday, July 3rd, to kick off America 250 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. He's got a big speech planned, and it's the official start of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, a year-long observance. I would really love if he would show up in Des Moines, pull a pen out of his pocket, and sign the reconciliation bill, but what do you want to bet? Congress just bails and goes home because. Heaven knows they don't want to miss their own vacation.

Yeah, right. Joe Messina joins us after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starring Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today.

He's reporting from the nation's capital, and the Todd Starn Show on Newsmax will air from D.C. And that's at 5 o'clock Eastern Time across the great U.S. of A. Joining us now on the Patreon Mobile Newsmaker line, returned guest of the program. He's Joe Messina calling in from California.

Joe, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. How are you? Good. How are you doing? I am very well.

And I imagine your ears were burning because I just ripped California in the last hour of the program. But you're probably used to that, aren't you? And you didn't and you didn't bring me along for the party? Seriously? You can watch me.

I thought about holding off, but I figured there was Yeah, I figured there was plenty that we could hash out over a long program. Remind folks across the country: where can they hear you if they're not in the Santa Clarita area?

Well, if you go to joemessina.com, the stations are listed there and you can list it online as well. Yeah. GoMessina.com. We make it very easy. All right.

So, Supreme Court decisions today. What's your favorite of the bunch? There were some good ones.

Well, yeah, well, there was something really good about that. I love them squelching the nationwide injunctions. But the other thing that I really like is I mean, I'm actually a school board member for a large district here in California. And the fact that they're allowing parents now to opt out of curriculum that they don't line up with religiously or or you know, with this we're with their moral values. And it's about time.

Especially here in California, because they subject our kids to So many things that are just not right, not fair. Taking the rights away for parents to dictate or be part of their kids' education, not even dictate, be part of it. But that was my favorite one. I like that too, and we're going to talk about that with somebody who helped write an Amicus brief on the topic. We'll do that in the next hour.

But the thing that I think is really helpful, Joe, about that particular case is There have been many parents who may have felt That it wouldn't help, it wouldn't matter, you know, what good is it for me to get involved because the you know the school just runs everything in the teachers' union. This is really going to embolden folks, isn't it? Yeah, it is. You know, what I've noticed, though, and I've been on the board way too long, coming up on 15 years. And what really amazes me is, you know, parents, those of you that are listening that have kids.

Read the stuff that comes home. Because even though this ruling says, yes, you have a right now to opt out to school, the school district can't stop you from opting out. Many parents don't. They don't fill in the forms, which are very simple, name, you know, that kind of stuff. But they need to get engaged, they need to get involved, they need to pay attention.

to their kids' education.

So yeah, this will embolden them Emboldened parents to now step in, truly get involved in kids' education. And you're right, many parents don't want their kids ostracized either, they don't want their kids. singled out, but I've got news for you. again, being in the business for so many years, there are more parents that want to opt their kids out. If you guys would get together and talk with each other and kind of form a little coalition, you'd find out that there's a lot more of you that agree on these things and don't.

Joe Messina, our guest on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. You can see where you can listen to his fine radio program on his website, joeemessina.com. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on the Todd Starn show today.

So, poor Todd, I mean, you know, you got a bad enough in California, but poor Todd, he's in Washington, D.C., busting heads at the Capitol as we speak to try to get this big, beautiful bill across the finish line. Speaker or Senate Majority Leader Thune says, ah, the parliamentarian's fine. What do you think? I I knew this was going to happen. If you go back to the days Last year when I was saying, look, you're all excited that the Republicans might take the House, Republicans might take the Senate.

Whoopi Ding, you know, that and a Buck fifty gets your cup of coffee at the local coffee shop. We don't tend to fight like we should. And I'm disappointed with Johnson. And the reason I say that is, how many EOs has President Trump issued where Johnson could have done a quick piece of legislation on and started to shove it through. Even if it's one at a time, if there's too many to look at, too bad, that's what we signed up for.

Let's start getting these things done. I mean, truly, how many laws can we build have they put through? And as far as Thune goes, I mean, we knew and I don't know how closely you were following it, we all kind of went, Oh, I can't believe they they voted that guy in. Um, he could easily get rid of the parliamentarians. She's wrong.

And she's been there since what? Harry Reid hired her for the position? And it's time for her to go be with her grandchildren.

Well, and again, I'm here in the state of Iowa. John Thune is a next-door neighbor. And one of the good things about being a person who does what I do in the state of Iowa is you can start telegraphing presidential ambitions by how many people start sending you news releases from their Senate office. I'm still getting Corey Booker releases.

Okay, so he's obviously not giving it up. All of a sudden, Jon Thune, when he wanted to be majority leader, now all of a sudden he's finding somebody in the eastern half of the state of Iowa to be friendly enough.

So I get all of his news releases. He has ambition, quite clearly, but this was not the strong leader that we need at this time, in my view. Yeah, I know. We need you know President Trump needed people in those positions. That were as strong as he was, that had the thick skin that he had.

These politicians will tell you.

Well, you know, I've got to make sure that I've got other people on board with me. I have to get elected again. And I usually stop right there and say, no, you don't have to get elected again. Because if every decision you make is based on whether you're going to be able to get elected again, then you're useless to me. You've got to be able to make the decisions you know is right for the people, you know, is right for the country.

And I'm telling you, as we've seen, happened with Donald Trump. They will come alongside. When they see you're truly for the people, you're truly for their kids. They will come alongside you and they'll be elected. You won't even have to worry about it.

One of the problems with the Senate is this attitude of. We know better than the house. All right.

And it really seems, and we've used this phrase for years, the upper chamber, and they're starting to believe it, right? And I'm afraid what happened, Joe, with the House passing what they passed, a lot of them didn't read it. We now know that. And a lot of folks in the House just said, well, we'll pass it. We'll stay on Trump's good side and the Senate will fix it for us.

Well, the Senate is fixing nothing, and it's actually now causing even more blowback. On the Republican side in the House, you have any sense, even with Starnes in the building, whether this thing can get straightened out?

Well, here's the funny thing I find about that. I'm sure you have a lot of friends over the years. That have been in Congress and been in the Senate. And the Senate is considered the gentleman. Of the Congress, right?

And the House is considered the frat voice of Congress, you know.

So, so again, I look at it. I don't know. Look, the Senate is not taking a stance on it.

Soon and others. Are not sitting there saying, no, this is going to go through, and this is the way it's going to go through. They're not pushing back on Schumer and others the way they should. When you have. When you had John Setterman.

As the one that seems right now to have the most common sense to the Senate, we got a problem, right? Seriously.

So, um,. I I think Todd will be able probably to turn some. I'm not so sure. You know as well as I do being in the business for a while, but If you don't have the fire in your belly, if you don't have the fire behind your eyes, it's hard to get somebody ginned up. to t to move forward with that fire.

Well, I was with you until you said, Well, you have friends, Jeff. No, I have no friends, Joe. I have no friends whatsoever. Yeah, there are people that don't run across the street when I come down the street. That's about as far as I'd go.

JoeMessina.com is the website. Mr. Messina joins us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on the Todd Star and Show.

So, if the president wanted this done by Independence Day, and at the time that came out in the spring, we thought, well, I don't know what's going to take so long.

Well, they're not even going to get that done then.

So, Crystal Bollett, what do you think, given the tone of the Senate right now, how much influence can this president actually employ to get even 50? Republicans to uh sign on to whatever is left of the bill. Ha ha ha. You know, it's funny. Two things I want to say here.

Yes. Over the years, you know, the two politicians, presidents that are. Politicians. They'll go to some of these guys and they'll say, Look, I know that your city or your state is looking for A new bridge, a new this, a new park over here. We could probably work that out for you, but I need your support on this bill, right?

I don't see Trump doing that. And maybe I'm just maybe I'm just oblivious to reality, but I see him going in and saying, look, you know this is the right thing to do. You know they'll be getting away with AB and C, and you know we need to make this happen for the American people. That's kind of how I see it when he when he goes into to uh the Senate and or the House.

So as far as getting it through look, if it goes through and they got the heck out of it, I'm going to be ranting for three hours with a bunch of Weasels, they are, okay? They need to hold their ground. I'm tired of hearing we can't shut down the government or we can't lose this or we can't. No, actually, you know what? Maybe we do.

Because right now, what's the approval rate of the Democrats? Like negative nine? I mean, we really need to ride this, and we need to do the whiteboard on the floor of the House and go, this is what they won't approve, this is what your Democrats won't let us do, this is what your Democrats are taking away from you, you will have taxes on your I would just I would just nail them one item after one item after one item so that they have to hide under the desk before the session's over. The problem with the whole concept of the reconciliation bill is the fundamental core, and I whined about this last hour to an extent, the fundamental core of this is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and getting that extended. The problem for the Republicans is.

If they move heaven and earth to get it extended, they get no credit because the average voter will see no difference. That's the idea, that there's no interruption in this. But if they fail, and the Democrats would love to see that, then everybody's taxes go up in a midterm election year. It's a no-win situation, which to me says get this thing out of the way as quickly as possible and move on to things that you can claim credit for, that people will appreciate.

So, you know what we need to do is We need to be better at marketing than they are. And the Democrats in the last election, and I can't remember the fellow that said it, it was a Democrat strategist who said, look, The Democr the Republicans have learned how to use social media. We're still putting signals out on old T V sites. And I think that, that's what we need to do is to your point, Their taxes will stay the same. I think they should be going on an ad campaign because, look, if this doesn't go through, your taxes are going to go from this to this.

So the average Joe Smith family who now pays, I don't know, $1,400 a year in taxes, you're going to see that go to about $2,500. Is that really what you want? Is that what you signed up for? And and I we d we do a lousy job at touting what we do. and a lousy job of laying out plain simple English.

You know, Quickly, do you remember when the debate was on between Ted Cruz and Donald From? Uh in the two thousand right So when Ted Cruz talks about the military, Even my eyes glazed over. He was talking about GDP and percentage of this, there's money here, we do this. Right? And what does Trump do?

Trump talked to the guy sitting at the bar having a beer and he goes, you know what? We're going to have the biggest, baddest. Prettiest Uh you know, military on the planet. We'll be able to crush anybody. Right there.

Is what drove it home. And I said, This is the difference between a politician, Ted Bruce. And not that I dislike Ted Bruce, because I like him. But but look at the difference of how they talk to people. We need to get back to that.

Hawkman Joe Q Public.

Well, and it's sort of and this is going to come out wrong, but Ted Cruz in that example comes across as smartest kid in the room and not afraid to show you.

Well, that's nice, but that doesn't make the connection. And Trump being a gazillionaire Who has always had the best of everything, he gets along far better with the union worker at one of his job sites than he does fellow executives. That's a unique talent, right? Oh, look, I I know people that have worked for him, worked at his facilities, and they'll say the same thing. He doesn't come through the front door with an entourage and look at me and look who I am and I own this place.

He comes in through the back door. He comes in to the restaurant, to the kitchens. And how are you doing? Is there anything I can do to make your job better? Is everything going well around here?

What do you need from me? I mean, can you imagine anybody in power on the other side doing that kind of thing? I still believe that even though he has money, he's had money, he understands the average Joe. And that's what makes him. You know, you I think it makes them endearing, frankly, and For those of you out there listening right now, yeah, but it's got such an attitude.

He is a Taipei. Uh New York. Democrat, I mean, I'm sorry, New York developer. What do you want him to do? He's not going to be a soft touch and that's how he gets things done.

Speaking of no average Joe, it's Joe Messina. Look how I did that, not my first day. JoeMessina.com is the website and live program 6 to 9 p.m. on the left coast. And the rest of you can do the math as to when you can hear him and station list on there as well.

Joe, it was a privilege talking to you, sir. Have a good show tonight, and I hope to talk again. Thank you. Yeah, Annabal. God bless.

Have a great weekend. You as well. Joe Messina joining us from California. And that's where his radio show originates. JoeMessina.com.

If you'd like to learn more, including what stations it airs on across this country. And Mr. Messina joined us for that fun conversation on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. 901-260-5926 is how you can connect with us in the Liberty University studio. We'll take your calls in the next segment.

Coming up in the next hour, a couple of really interesting guests. We have Kimberly Herman, the president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, just after the top of the hour talking about that parental rights Supreme Court case. Congressman Zach Nunn joins us at the bottom of the next hour. And again, your calls in and around on this Open Line Friday edition of the Todd Star and Show: Jeff Stein in for Todd. And we'll take this break and come on back on the Starring Show.

Yeah. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Stern show Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Mike Lindell and MyPillow employees specifically want to thank listeners of this fine radio program for your continued support. You know that Mike has a passion to help everyone get the best sleep of their life. He could have stopped with pillows.

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So here now is a headline from Fox News Department of Homeland Security ending temporary protected status for around a half million Haitians in the U. S. I tell you, winning? Hmm. And these rulings from the Supreme Court today, whether it is upholding the law in Texas to try to limit Minors from seeing pornography online, whether it is the ruling that limited the use, pretty much eliminated the use of national injunctions by federal district court judges.

That's a good one. How about parental rights? The case is called Mahmoud versus Taylor, and that's where we're going to resume when we come back after this break from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Come back for hour three of the Todd Starn Show.

Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. It's America's conservative blowtorch. That's right. I love this American. Talk starts.

You're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed. Welcome to our three of a Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show, coast to coast, on more than 150 tremendous radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarns.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He is in the District of Columbia and he will be doing the Newsmax show from there at 5 o'clock Eastern Time today.

I'm in the Liberty University studio in my home base, News Talk 1540, KXEL, in Cedar Rapids in Waterloo, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch, scorching the heartland with accurate news and reasonable views. It's open line Friday, 901-260-5926 is how you can connect with us. We'll take your calls in the next segment, but we begin this hour by going directly to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, and we welcome Kimberly Herman. Ms. Herman is president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation.

Mm-hmm.

Kim Herman, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd Starnes. How are you today? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you again.

Tell folks who are not familiar, SLF, who are you folks and what do you do? Yes, we're the country's oldest conservative public interest law firm, which simply means that when the government violates your constitutional rights, we go ahead and sue the government and take the cases all the way up to SCODIS and fight for you every day for the last fifty years. And a great day today because one of the cases that SLF has been involved with right down to filing in a MICUS brief is a case called Mahmood versus Taylor. Please remind folks what was the issue in that case and what did the Supreme Court come up with today? Yeah, it's been a huge day out of DC.

So, in this case, What happened was we have a school system in Maryland that is teaching kids about LGBTQ issues. They're doing it through a variety of different subjects, right? This is in a sex ed class. This is in your English class, in your history class, et cetera. And parents want to know what's happening in their kids' schools.

And the school district specifically said that parents were not allowed to opt out of this curriculum.

So an opt-out existed. and then they took it away from those parents.

So the parents filed a lawsuit. went all the way up to the Supreme Court because the lower court sided with the school. And today, in a huge win for parental rights and religious liberties, the Supreme Court said, no, you cannot teach kids about these issues, LGBTQ, radical gender ideology, without parental consent. You must give them a chance to opt out. It is a huge ruling, and near as I can tell, and you studied this as soon as it came out much more closely than I did, but it seems to be about as clear and unequivocal language as you would want in such a thing.

And so the broad ramifications of this are just tremendous as I read it. They really are. I mean, after oral argument, I know that there was a lot of discussion about is the court going to issue this as a really narrow opinion? Another was saying just in this one situation. And they did the complete opposite.

They made it very clear that parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children. And that, that includes instruction in the classroom. There was a lot of discussion by the three justices who disagreed. This came down along ideological lines, as everyone expected. But a lot of discussion by them that this would destroy schools, that the ramifications will be felt for centuries, excuse me.

It's not going to destroy schools. It's going to secure parental rights. It's going to keep stuff. This disgusting Literature that does not belong in a school out of schools. And I hope it does change schools for centuries to come.

I hope that we never have to deal with kids being taught about transgenderism and drag shows in our classrooms ever again. Kimberly Herman is president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation. You find them online at slfliberty.org. That's slfliberty.org. She joins us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Friday.

This is a big ruling, quite obviously, and as you mentioned, the court could have kept it much more narrow. But this might, in my view anyway, embolden parents who might have otherwise felt: well, you can't fight the school district, you can't buck the teachers' union, all of these things. This kind of a ruling might have to be a wake-up call, not only for parents, but also for these schools that have gotten away with unchecked behavior for so long. I think it will. One of the things that we run into all the time here at Southeastern Legal Foundation, our parents who want solutions but they're scared.

They're scared to file that lawsuit. They're scared of their ramifications. And when you have a ruling like this, which just reaffirms to them that they have parental rights, that they have constitutional rights, that they will be successful. I'm really hopeful that it will bring more parents to the table willing to bring these lawsuits if the schools don't back down because there are groups like ours who represent parents for free. write completely for free, bring these lawsuits to stop these schools from doing this.

And I just really hope it gives all of them the courage to do so. My sense is, and I don't have children, I don't have grandchildren, but my sense is that the COVID era, the lockdowns, it led to parents actually figuring out what was being taught in school to some degree. There was the disconnect, and then all of a sudden, when the school was done through the computer at home, parents were standing there saying, wait a minute, you're learning what? They're teaching you what? No wonder you can't read and write well.

It seems like this is just the next logical step in the assertion of parental rights as it should be now that they have the understanding and the information that they need. That's right. I mean, and I am a parent. I have a rising third grader and a rising sixth grader. And so we were right in the thick of it during COVID.

And we saw all of the lessons. I'm fortunate that that's not happening in my kids' very small private Christian school. But that's how this really came out to parents. There wasn't a big parental rights movement before 2020. But man, when you mess with our kids, right, and when you really do try to take them from us, because this is so much bigger than just a book in a classroom.

This is people coming in, the teachers' unions, the radical left coming in and saying, we're going to parent your children. They are not yours, they are ours. And when parents heard that and saw that, That was, I mean, that was just the end of it. And so we've brought numerous lawsuits. The teachers are coming out talking about this.

We need more parents to run for school board. We need more parents to file lawsuits. and we need parents to keep fighting. This is a huge case, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.

So as the we've been talking a lot, or I've been talking a lot about parental rights on this, but this is also got some great precedent for religious liberty broadly, does it not, with regard to these public schools and therefore other public institutions? It really does. You know, they went into great detail to talk about what's happening in these books, right? As I mentioned, they're talking about, and I'm talking high level here, but drag shows and transgender and saying that, you know, the doctor guesses about whether or not you're a boy and a girl. You get to pick that, completely taking God and religion out of the picture, right?

And the opinion, which is long and very in-depth, goes into explaining how this is a very real threat. to undermine the religious beliefs and practices that parents want to instill. This was not just about parental rights. this really made that connection. between parents getting to make the decision about what their kids are taught.

Where does that is sex versus gender identity? And it went into great detail, and I think that that's another huge win from this court. And we're still digesting all of it, but today we celebrate religious liberties, we celebrate parental rights. And it is a huge ruling, along with others, limiting judicial overreach at lower levels, et cetera. Last question for Kimberly Herman of the Southeastern Legal Foundation.

Have you come across language yet in this that the other side is going to twist? Obviously, they're all finding ways to try to keep this under the surface and so that they can still sneak it through. But have you seen anything? Or is this just one of those good old legal smackdowns that they taught us about in law school? I mean, they're certainly going to try, but the dissenting opinions by the three justices who didn't want this outcome was so So clear.

If you will, that there aren't those loopholes, right? When they say that this is going to stand for centuries and change everything, well, you wanna know what? it's not changing it for centuries in the sense of anything radical. It's bringing us back to the Constitution and telling schools that they have to follow the Constitution. And so there's no doubt that those on the left are going to try to twist it, but I think this is a really strong opinion that we can build off of to continue to protect parental rights.

Well, it's a big day. Congratulations. And what a wonderful effort, again, Southeastern Legal Foundation does. SLFLiberty.org is the website. Kim Herman, thanks so much for taking the time to break this down, and we'll let you digest the rest of it and enjoy the victory this weekend.

Thank you so much. Have a great one. You do as well. And Ms. Herman joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line from the Southeastern Legal Foundation, SLFLiberty.org.

And you see how important these cases are. And you see how important standing up for what you believe in is. These parents standing up for their children. and what is right. And this is not only, as we've just mentioned, an attack on parental rights, but also on the First Amendment, freedom of religion.

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PatriotMobile.com/slash Todd. Or call 972 Patriot and use the offer code Todd. 901-260-5926. We'll take your calls in the next segment on an open line Friday. Congressman Zach Nunn from the 3rd District of Iowa after the bottom of the hour.

Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Star and Show. Um Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Stern Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926 is how you can connect with us and continue the coast-to-coast conversation. After the bottom of the hour, Congressman Zach Nunn from the 3rd District of Iowa will join us.

He's a colonel in the Air Force National Guard, and he also served in active duty as an aviator flying combat missions in the Middle East. And he has some great insight in the bombing raid a week ago. And I want to share that with you when he joins us live. And that's in about 10 minutes or so. Right now we've got a ceasefire in the Middle East.

But you just don't know how long that's going to last. Let's hope it lasts for a very long time. But the Middle East is always on edge. And if bad things happen, your savings could take a hit. You know, you look at that and you say, well, what difference does that make to me?

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If you're concerned, then give Vault US Gold a call and talk it through because in uncertain times, gold and silver continue to stand strong. There have been a number of things that I've been seeing lately in the. In the news. And this is something that I find very interesting. And I have just enough time to tell you about it.

Scott Rasmussen does polling these days for Napolitan News Service. He did a survey this week of 1,000 registered voters in this country to get a sense of how people feel about certain nations. How you hear from the left about how bad America is and nobody trusts America, etc. All right, well, here was the question: Please let me know if the following nation is a force for good in the world or a force for evil. Pretty simple.

And then they'd mention the country name. Iran was seen as a force for good by only 10% of American registered voters and seen as a force for evil. By two-thirds, 66%. Yeah. Two-thirds also said Russia was a force for evil, only twelve percent said it was a force for good.

Half the voters, barely fifty percent, said China was a force for evil, but only fourteen percent said it was a force for good. But how did these one thousand American voters view the United States? sixty three percent, almost two thirds, sixty three percent of American voters surveyed by Scott Rasmussen said the U. S. was a force for good in the world.

Only thirteen percent said evil. Fifty percent difference in favor of good.

So every time you hear these these chatter boxes on these left wing channels, or they're on their blue sky and Twitter and whatever else, saying how bad America is and no one has faith in the country, etcetera, 1,000 registered voters. Two-thirds said Russia was evil. Two-thirds said Iran was evil. Only, well, half said China was evil. Only 14% said good.

Good old USFA, though. We're the force that is for good. And we need to have that in context. We know you know it and you believe it, but those are the numbers to prove it. That's what real America thinks, not the liberal talking heads.

Congressman Zach Nunn joins us after the bottom of the hour. Jeff Stein in for Todd from the Liberty University Studio. This is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn Show, 901-260-5926. That's how you can join this coast-to-coast conversation.

We'll take your calls in the final segment today. But we begin this portion of the program by going to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, and we welcome a returned guest to the program. He is Congressman Zach Nunn. Congressman Nunn is a Republican from the 3rd District of the great state of Iowa. Congressman Jeff Stein filling in for Todd.

How are you, sir? Jeff, always good to talk with you. I'm privileged to be on the Tottern Show here, coming to you from DC as we work on the President's big, beautiful bill to cut taxes, move forward border security and proof American energy independence to me the strongest force for economic success in the world. And proud to represent the great state of Iowa, most competitive district in the state, so it's important that we keep a majority in our House Republican Conference. Zachnun.com is the website if you'd like to learn more or help his efforts because it's always a re-election year.

You know, Todd Starnes is in the Capitol, or at least he was in the Capitol earlier today meeting with the Speaker.

So hopefully, if that's what it takes to break the log jam over there on the Senate side, that'd be great. I want to talk about, if I may, draw upon your experience because what folks may not know, you're a combat aviator with the U.S. Air Force, currently a full bird colonel in the reserves, and so you know very well about the mission that those brave pilots undertook not one week ago, and you know the region very, very well. Tell us a bit about this mission. What do we not understand?

What is it that the formerly mainstream media is getting wrong?

Well, Jeff, first of all, I want to salute the B two pilots who flew all the way around the world from the heart of the heartland to deliver a very clear message to the Ayatollah and his despotic regime that you can either negotiate a peace with Donald Trump, who held out The option for negotiations at the very last minute, or you can fill the kinetic advantage the United States has taking out their nuclear program. And I'll be very specific here. Operation Midnight Hammer was a master's class in twenty first century warfare. The U.S. was able to maintain not only the element of surprise through tight operational security and diversionary tactics, but once it was over the target, they were able to lethally destroy the deep ground bunker there at the Fordo site, as well as launch a series of tomahawks.

from Ohio class. Submarines in the Persian Gulf. This was a full effects capability. And it's something that only the United States had the ability to have, these stealthy D2s as well as the deep penetration GBU57 weapon.

Now, I'm a combat veteran. You're right. And a salute to all the others who partook in this event. But I've flown sorties off the coast of Iran. I know that Iran is a hostile actor in the region who is committed to getting a nuclear weapon.

And I literally was in the country during this so-called 12-day war. I was in the Middle East talking to leaders from Saudi Arabia, talking to the Gulf states, talking to our allies in Israel. All of them, regardless of their past frustrations, agreed that a nuclear Iran would only How we Heighten the stakes for the entire region to be not only in a state of war, but what could bleed over. Iran is the number one sponsor of terrorism. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels who have been taking hot shots at US Terrier Strike groups.

These are the guys who, if they had a nuclear device, would absolutely be one of the first to use it. And I'm proud of President Trump for standing up, eliminating the threat and then immediately saying, and now we have to have peace. Let's get back to the negotiating table. This is the kind of not only deal maker he is, but he's providing a canopy of security for our forty thousand U. S.

troops currently stationed in U.S. Central Command. I don't know anything about this stuff. I have seen none of the intelligence, but just as an average individual, it seemed to me that the dust had barely settled from the bombing last Saturday night, and the Iranians were saying, okay, we're good. We've had enough of this.

That tells me it was really effective. You've seen all the data. Do you have any doubt that this was. successful in terms of and I don't care what word you use, the President likes say obliteration, but have any doubt that this did what we've been told it did? Yes, I'm fully confident the world is much safer today than it was at the end of last week when Iran was in the process of Thank you.

Highly enriched nuclear capability. And here's what I do know, and I'm happy to share: look, the president's strike. had the Iranians refusing to have peace negotiations on a Friday night, it had the less saying that there was no nuclear program to speak of. And by the strike on Saturday, you had the Iranians immediately come to the table and say, we have built a facility thirty feet or thirty stories under the ground. There's no other intent than to develop a secret nuclear weapons program.

And immediately after that was bombed, they yielded and said, we're done. On the left, they took the complete opposite tact.

Now they said, hey, maybe this wasn't as effective as we thought it might be or what the President said, and Iran is closer than ever to maybe having a nuclear weapon. These guys are pulling not only at straws here to try and legitimize their position. They clearly don't want to see President Trump be successful. And as a result of one piece of intelligence that had low probability, we're now seeing the rest of the story come out that these were highly effective, both U. S., Israeli and Allied television points the same.

But to the most important part, it brought the Iranians back to the negotiating table, and President Trump was able to end a twelve day war in less than twenty four hours. That is a huge win for the entire world. Obviously, you can cherry-pick any set of data, but when you look at the volume of Information, including subsequent evaluations beyond that first assessment. That's what you're using to base Your comments on. You've seen all of this stuff, not just limited to one leaked document.

That's absolutely right. And look, I've been a targeting commander. We are privileged that we in Iowa, the Iowa National Guard, actually helped take out the Syrian chemical weapons under the first Trump administration. I just helped deploy nearly two thousand members of the Iowa Guard who are going to be in U. S.

CINTCOM. I would not be saying that if I didn't think each one of those members would be safe from a future Iranian strike. And I'll even double down on this by saying I'm now leading the Iranian maximum pressure campaign for real sanctions against Iran to validate this. We've been working with the President. I was just at the White House yesterday.

I spoke. with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And we identified that there is a real ability here for us to verify we can't allow the Iranians the ability to reconstitute, but we also know that there are real pressure points we can get to deescalate the situation, to have a peaceful conclusion and to hopefully use what President Trump led in his first term, something called the Abrams Accords, which brought our Saudi and Gulf state partners into a level of communication with Israel, who had always been their adversary.

Now they have diplomatic posts, they have security agreements, they have economic success, and these countries are finding they work better together than they did when they were opposed. This is a pathway President Trump and Congress can work on to bring Iran back into the worldfold and hopefully get rid of these horrible ayatollahs that are hurting the Iranian people most of all. Zach Nunn, Republican, 3rd District Congress, state of Iowa. ZachNunn.com is the website. He joins us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. I want to switch topics, Congressman, because we've been talking a lot today about these great Supreme Court rulings that have been handed down. In particular, I'm interested in the one that is going to limit. these independent judges in narrow districts from issuing nationwide injunctions that get in the way of any President's executive order. What's your reaction when you heard these rulings come down?

Yes, Jeff, this is really important. This came out today as the last day of the Supreme Court's meeting, and this ruling would rein in judicial overreach. I think we all know that no single judge should be able to block a President's policy nationwide just because they disagree with the President politically. The Supreme Court was right in limiting the misuse of universal injunctions, as they're called. While it still allows things like a nationwide relief in cases like a class action or clear legal violations, we're really going to be able to course correct here, and this is, in my opinion, a necessary course correction.

The judiciary has drifted far too from its intended role. uh bring decisions under Article three from the courts. back within their constitutional guardrails. Let me be very specific here on this ruling. fixes very particular issues.

People who are unhappy with President Trump's executive decision. Or any other president for that matter, because they disagree with Trump's ideology. should not have the ability to pause an executive order for the entire country. the system is meant to operate in a way that makes sure that the President has the ability to execute.

So for example, somebody in Seattle can sue an agency because they don't like President Trump's Make America Great attitude. And one rogue federal dust judge as a result could pause the policy for the entire United States, not just Seattle. That's not how the system should work. This ruling limits that practice, but doesn't ban all those nationwide injunctions we talked about in every scenario.

So this is a great step forward, and I think it's a real opportunity for us to now say the President has the ability to take executive action as he does under the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has told lower courts that they don't have the ability to unilaterally dictate for the entire country the opinions of one judge. And again, judges have designated jurisdictions. This never should have gotten out of hand, and I'm glad the Supreme Court has made it very clear today.

Now, in our final few moments with Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn, you introduced me to a new word when I saw a news release about a bill you introduced: agroterrorism. This doesn't sound good. It's actually even worse in practice. Jeff, you're absolutely right. Agroterrorism is the ability of foreign entities to come in and threaten our food supply by trying to take out our agricultural capability.

And Jeff, for listeners, you and I are both from the great state of Iowa. Corn and soybean are king. And what we have seen is that there have been Chinese so-called research students who signed blood oaths to the Communist Chinese Party to come in and. bring in things like high pathogen fungus and groundworm that can effectively destroy crop, can kill animals and if ingested by a human, could be highly deadly. We know that these operators were reckless, they were careless.

Some of them tried to sneak it in their shoe. One from Wuhan, China, tried to mail boxes of it through the U. S. Post Office, and when he couldn't get all of those in, he brought it in on his carry-on luggage. This is very dangerous because if just one of these were to get out, they could cause mass devastation to our ability to produce.

Food for the entire country. This happened once. in nineteen ninety six, this fungus got out and it cost the country billions of dollars. In today's terms, that could lead to trillions of dollars of damage and, most importantly, could lead to mass food shortages.

So I'm happy that the FBI was able to catch these guys, but I'm leading new legislation called the Preventing Lethal Agricultural and National Threat Act, the Plant Act, to help stop this on the front end. What kind of enforcement mechanism is going to be necessary? And do you have confidence that even if this passes as you've proposed, we will be able to affect the desired outcome? And I say that not because you don't know what you're doing, but because I don't know how many times a law is passed, we all have this false sense of security, everything's okay, and somebody else drops the ball.

So what mechanisms ensure a result than might otherwise be the case? Jeff, you're absolutely right. Look, we've seen this threat played out before, and we've been able to take some selective solutions. One, we saw it happen in our home state of Iowa back in 2011 when we caught Chinese nationals literally in the cornfield trying to dig up pest seeds that they were going to sneak out of the country. We stopped them at the time at the Des Moines airport before they could leave.

But the reality is today, China owns almost 400,000 acres of U.S. farmland. And while I've also led legislation stopping that practice going forward, The concern is they've got 40,000 other shell companies that are operating in this area, and they're using things like researchers. to try and come into the country to deploy or forward operate these lethal pathogens.

So what we're looking at doing is something that both goes after it by our act called the Plan Act again to really close a number of loopholes that the DOJ has been asking for. One, we're going to be able to prosecute here in the United States. There's real penalties for this. It's 10 years for anybody who recklessly brings these highly contagious pathogens into the U. S.

It's twenty years if their actions cause a major economic damage or involve a relationship with a foreign government, which it's clear at this point all three of these individuals had. And it also enhances the enforcement ability of both the DOJ to prosecute here in the US, the USDA to be able to evaluate and assess who's coming in and then Customs and Border Patrol to be able to stop agrotorrorism threats before they spread, not after the damage is already done and the impact is felt by every American. We just take for granted the security of our food supply, Congressman, and this is of great concern, especially because a lot of folks listening to this program are in the heartland, but it seems like the folks in the big blue cities and on the coast, they just think that food comes from the grocery store. They miss the important part, and this is something that you're drilling down on.

Well, and look, I spend my career both in the military and then as a counterintelligence officer. I operated inside China. I think China has tried to find real choke points that it can threaten the United States with. And the reality here is The United States, we do sometimes take food for granted. Tragically, we sometimes take the farmer for granted.

As a result, we have put the entire nation just days away from a food shortage if there is something like this agroterrorism that takes place or, as we saw with COVID nineteen, a Wuhan variant that can devastate entire communities, shut down supply chains, and really do harm both to our economy and to our national security on our readiness to respond.

So I'm proud that this legislation, one, it's bipartisan, but two, it goes aggressively after these actors and it gives the President the tools send a clear message to Beijing and the Communist Party in charge of China that they cannot mess with the United States when it comes to our ag, when it comes to our security and when it comes to our way forward. We will hold them accountable. and we will make sure that these type of actions are not replicated. Congressman Zach Nunn, 3rd District of Iowa, I thank you, sir, for the time. Appreciate you joining us on the STARNS program.

Have a good weekend, sir. Jeff, always a privilege. Happy Fourth of July weekend. We'll see President Trump in Iowa on the third, and all the best everybody out in Todd Stern's world. And you can see more about the Congressman, ZachNunn.com.

He joined us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Final break now. Final segment coming up. Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd's Darn Show. Uh Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starnes show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Thanks to Dylan. Thanks to Jay back at the home base in Memphis. Thanks to Dalton for making the connection so I could be here. And Mr.

Starnes, I appreciate the opportunity as always. Todd joined us for the first portion of the program. If you missed it, go to the Toddcast Podcast when we're done at ToddStarnes.com. Values are under fire at every turn. We got some good benefit from the Supreme Court today, but it's always a good time to stand strong in the face of opposition.

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So go out there, enjoy the weekend. If it's hot, stay cool, get to church as you should, and I appreciate the opportunity. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Make it a good one, America. This has been the Todd Starn Show.