Supreme Court Ruling on Conversion Therapy Bans
Supreme Court strikes down conversion therapy ban 3/31/2026
Ethics Rock! will continue to provide you guidance as the Supreme Court justices opinions are released.
By Josh Gerstein 03/31/2026 10:11 AM EDT
The justices ruled, 8-1, that the First Amendment prohibits states from using their licensing power to limit the topics therapists and other professionals can discuss. States can’t ban so-called conversion therapy, aimed at changing a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The justices ruled, 8-1, Tuesday that the First Amendment prohibits states from using their licensing power to limit the topics therapists and other professionals can discuss with their clients.
“The First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court’s majority. The ruling is a win for the Trump administration, which urged the court to declare that Colorado’s ban violates free speech rights.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter.
The case, Chiles v. Salazar, was brought by Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor who described herself as a practicing Christian who sometimes provides counseling informed by her faith. Chiles said she wished to offer talk therapy to minors who want to reduce feelings of same-sex attraction or feel more comfortable in their bodies.
Chiles isn’t licensed to prescribe medicine or perform surgery, so the ruling does not impact states’ power to regulate those sorts of interventions.
In a 6-3 decision last year in a case from Tennessee, the Supreme Court broadly upheld the power of states to ban doctors from prescribing hormone therapy or puberty inhibitors as part of gender-affirming care. A related ban on surgery for transgender minors was not challenged in the case.
