Monsanto v. Durnell: 7-2
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Monsanto, holding that federal EPA labeling law preempts state-level cancer warning requirements for Roundup.
Snapshot · The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2456 - LIVE: Ben Breaks Down SCOTUS on Birthright Citizenship
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Jun 30, 2026
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Monsanto v. Durnell: The Roundup Ruling and Federal Preemption
At 54:20 · chapter starts 54:10
This section tackles one of the more technically complex cases of the term. Shapiro opens with extensive background on Roundup's contested safety record: the EPA's 1974 approval, the 2015 IARC 'possibly carcinogenic' classification, more than 100,000 lawsuits citing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a 2017 email scandal suggesting Monsanto influenced a key scientific paper, and the EPA's 2020 reversal of its own findings. He notes his wife's personal concern about Roundup, especially since they live near a golf course. The legal question is then distilled: can a state court require a cancer warning on Roundup's label when the EPA-mandated label carries no such warning? Kavanaugh's 7-2 majority says no — federal law expressly preempts state labeling requirements, and forcing every product to carry state-mandated warnings on top of federal ones would destroy entire industries. The unusual dissent, written by Ketanji Brown Jackson and joined by Gorsuch, argues preemption doesn't apply and that Monsanto should simply stop selling Roundup. Shapiro finds the majority's legal reasoning sound but urges those concerned about glyphosate to direct their anger at the EPA, which controls the label.
Glyphosate classified possibly carcinogenic: 2015
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on evidence of cancer.
100,000+ Roundup plaintiffs
More than 100,000 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, citing cancer concerns.
Mail-In Ballots: The Real Problem Is Ballot Harvesting
SCOTUS allowed mail-in ballots received after Election Day to be counted if postmarked before it. Ben Shapiro says the bigger threat to election integrity isn't late counting on the back end — it's ballot harvesting on the front end, where bad actors gather and submit ballots en masse.
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