Overview
- A stipulated order entered Thursday requires Michigan to stop enforcing HB 4616 against licensed mental-health professionals who provide talk-only therapy to minors.
- U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering declared the law, as applied to talk therapy by licensed professionals, to violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and issued a permanent injunction preventing state officials from penalizing therapists.
- The settlement follows a December Sixth Circuit panel finding of likely viewpoint discrimination and the U.S. Supreme Court’s March decision in Chiles v. Salazar, both of which the district court cited as central to its order.
- Plaintiffs in the case were Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties and therapist Emily McJones, who were represented by the Becket Fund and argued the law censored patient-directed, religiously informed counseling.
- The order takes effect immediately, leaves attorney-fee resolution and any remaining claims for later, and could prompt legal or policy responses in other states that have similar conversion-therapy bans.