US Supreme Court Rules 8-1 to Strike Down Colorado's Conversion Therapy Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, to strike down a Colorado law banning so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors, finding that the measure unconstitutionally restricts the free speech of licensed therapists under the First Amendment. The justices sided with Kaley Chiles, a licensed Christian counselor who argued the 2019 law amounted to a government-imposed gag order on her counseling practice. The court vacated a lower court ruling that had upheld the law and sent the case back to lower courts with instructions to apply a more rigorous legal standard. The decision carries implications for similar statutes in more than 20 other states and the District of Columbia.

Gorsuch invokes First Amendment shield in majority opinion Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion, joined by seven other justices spanning the ideological spectrum of the court. The opinion held that Colorado's law censors speech on the basis of viewpoint, a form of restriction the First Amendment does not permit even when applied to licensed professionals. „The First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.” — Neil Gorsuch via Politico Gorsuch also rejected the argument that so-called "professional speech" constitutes a separate, lesser-protected category under the Constitution. „Consistent with these principles, our precedents have expressly rejected the State and dissent's notion that 'professional speech' represents some 'separate category of speech' subject to 'diminished constitutional protection.'” — Neil Gorsuch via Axios The court instructed lower courts to apply strict scrutiny to the law, a standard that few statutes survive. The majority opinion did not itself invalidate the law outright but made clear that the higher bar would be difficult for Colorado to clear.

Lone dissenter warns of healthcare quality collapse Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter, reading a lengthy summary of her objection from the bench — an unusual step that signals strong disagreement. Jackson argued that speech delivered in a medical context is categorically different from ordinary free expression, and that patients depend on licensed professionals to follow scientifically grounded standards of care. „In the worst-case scenario, our medical system unravels as various licensed healthcare professionals — talk therapists, psychiatrists, and presumably anyone else who claims to utilize speech when administering treatments to patients — start broadly wielding their new-found constitutional right to provide substandard medical care.” — Ketanji Brown Jackson via Axios She warned that the ruling edges the country toward a significant deterioration in healthcare quality. „It is baffling that we could now be standing on the edge of a precipitous drop in the quality of healthcare services in America. But the Court sees fit to bring us one step closer to that fate today.” — Ketanji Brown Jackson via Axios Jackson's position aligned with the stance taken by Colorado's Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser, who defended the law as a legitimate exercise of the state's authority to regulate medical practice and protect patients from substandard care.

Chiles lawsuit backed by Trump administration and ADF Kaley Chiles, an evangelical Christian, filed the lawsuit against Colorado in 2022, contending the law prevented her from working with young patients who wished to live in accordance with their faith. Chiles was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has previously secured Supreme Court victories for a Christian baker and a Christian website designer who declined to serve same-sex couples. Chiles stated in court filings that she does not seek to "cure" clients of same-sex attraction but helps patients pursue their own stated goals, which sometimes include reducing unwanted attractions. The administration of President Donald Trump filed briefs supporting Chiles's position. The Colorado law, signed in 2019 by Governor Jared Polis — the first openly gay man elected governor of a U.S. state — prohibited licensed mental health providers from attempting to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity, with each violation carrying a fine of up to and the possibility of license suspension or revocation. Colorado officials stated that no one had ever been sanctioned under the law. Medical organizations including the American Psychological Association cited research linking conversion therapy to increased risk of suicide attempts and other harms in LGBTQ+ youth, a position also supported by data from The Trevor Project, a suicide and crisis prevention group focused on young LGBTQ+ people.

Conversion therapy refers to practices aimed at changing a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, historically including methods such as electroconvulsive shock therapy and aversion techniques. Beginning in the 1990s and accelerating through the 2010s, U.S. states began passing laws restricting or banning the practice, particularly for minors, citing scientific consensus that it is ineffective and harmful. Colorado enacted its ban in 2019 under Governor Jared Polis. The case reached the Supreme Court after the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Colorado law, classifying it as a permissible regulation of professional conduct that only incidentally involved speech. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and heard oral arguments in October 2025, at which point conservative justices signaled skepticism toward the state's position.

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