Drag Queens: 1, Ron DeSantis: 0

Common decency dictates that one should never kick a person when they’re down—but it’s perfectly acceptable to do so when the person in question is a wannabe tyrant who’s made it his professional goal to make life hell for anyone who disagrees with him about anything. This is what we assume the Supreme Court was thinking when it told Florida governor Ron DeSantis that he could f–k off with his ridiculous drag show law.

On Thursday, SCOTUS declined to allow the enforcement of the DeSantis-championed Florida law that bans children from attending drag shows, which kept in place a lower court ruling and rejected state officials’ request to narrow a June injunction to apply to just a single Orlando restaurant which had challenged the law. Did SCOTUS actually take DeSantis being a certified jerk in mind when it made its ruling? No. Did it use the words “Dear Ron, Get f–ked?” on official court letterhead? Also no, though we assume that’s how it must have felt when the Florida governor got the news.

Per CBS News:

At issue in the case is the Protection of Children Act, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in May. DeSantis is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and has billed himself as a champion of “parental rights,” an issue that has grown in prominence among the GOP presidential field…. Establishments that don’t comply with the law are subject to fines and can lose their liquor licenses. Violators can also be charged with a misdemeanor.

Hamburger Mary’s, which hosted “family-friendly” drag show performances, sued the state over the law, arguing it violates the First Amendment. The restaurant asked a federal district court to block enforcement of the measure while it considers its constitutionality. A trial court agreed to stop the state from enforcing the law, finding Hamburger Mary’s is likely to succeed on its claims that the measure does not comport with the First Amendment.

The “Protection of Children Act” is just one of many anti-LGBTQ+ laws DeSantis has signed over the last several years, the most famous one being the bigoted “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in grades K–12. (Yes, 12th.) Others have included bans on gender-affirming care for minors (and includes criminal penalties for health care providers) and bans on requiring teachers to use a student or coworker’s preferred pronouns.

The Supreme Court news comes amidst horrifically bad, you-should-just-pack-it-in poll numbers for DeSantis, who does not appear to have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the GOP nomination after being seen as the party front-runner less a year ago.