Overview
- - The Court, in an 8-1 decision Tuesday authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, said Colorado cannot use its law to stop licensed counselor Kaley Chiles from offering talk therapy, finding the statute targets a disfavored viewpoint and sending the case back to the lower court.
- - The holding applies to speech-based counseling only and leaves room for states to regulate coercive or physical practices, which legal analysts say keeps many bans intact on paper but vulnerable in how they are applied.
- - With similar laws in 23 states and Washington, D.C., officials in places such as Maryland and Vermont said they are reviewing their statutes, and lawmakers in Colorado and California advanced bills to let survivors sue providers for alleged harm.
- - Health-law experts say treating talk therapy as protected speech could narrow state medical boards’ power over clinician counseling, inviting challenges in areas like telehealth, vaccine or Covid advice, and abortion referrals.
- - Major medical groups and survivors warn conversion efforts cause real harm, even as right-leaning outlets cast the ruling as a free-speech victory and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent warns the approach could undercut public-health regulation.