Chiles v. Salazar, et al. (SCOTUS)

Brief filed: 8/25
Court: Supreme Court of the United States 
Year of Decision: 2026

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Whether Colorado's regulation of specific therapeutic practices through its enactment of the Minor Therapy Conversion Law (prohibiting mental health professionals from engaging in "conversion therapies" for minors), unlawfully abridges a therapist's right to free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. 

Gender Identity; Sexual Orientation/Sexual Orientation Change Efforts

The case involves Kaley Chiles, Petitioner, versus Patty Salazar, in her official capacity as executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, et al., as Respondents. The case originated when Plaintiff Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the State of Colorado, filed for a temporary injunction to bar enforcement of Colorado's Minor Therapy Conversion Law of 2019. Chiles alleged that the law hindered her ability to assist her minor clients in changing their sexual orientation or gender identity. The case has now reached the Supreme Court after the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's decision upholding the ban.

APA filed as amicus curiae in support of respondents, joined by the American Psychiatric Association and twelve other mental health and medical professional organizations. The brief explains that the scientific, professional nature of therapy justifies the state's regulation of professional conduct and describes the scientific evidence of the harms that conversion efforts cause. APA argues that SOGICE (sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts) do not meet the criteria of a legitimate therapeutic treatment, are potentially harmful, discredited practices, and are not supported by credible scientific evidence. The brief reaffirms APA's 2009 report findings that SOGICE are ineffective at changing sexual orientation and can pose a risk of harm to individuals who undergo them, with updated 2021 resolutions confirming that SOGICE lack sufficient bases in scientific principles.

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Tenth Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings. The Court held that Colorado's Minor Therapy Conversion Law, as applied to Chiles’s talk therapy, regulates speech based on viewpoint and that the lower courts erred by failing to apply sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny. Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Justice Kagan filed a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Sotomayor. Justice Jackson dissented.