The Liberty Justice Center has filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Chiles v. Salazar, a case challenging the state of Colorado’s restrictions on the free speech of counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals.
In 2019, licensed professional counselor Kaley Chiles filed a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s Mental Health Practice Act, legislation that prohibits licensed mental health professionals from offering professional counseling if the therapist expresses views on sexual orientation or gender identity that the state disapproves of. This law infringes on therapists’ First Amendment rights by discriminating against speech based on that speech’s content and viewpoint.
After the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Colorado law, Chiles filed an appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case.
The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief argues that the law is presumptively unconstitutional under well-established Supreme Court precedent. The state of Colorado scrutinizes the content of therapists’ speech to determine whether it violates the law in question—then penalizes counselors whose speech does not align with the government’s approved viewpoint. In that way, the law explicitly censors speech based on its content and viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment. As a result, the Liberty Justice Center’s brief urges the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and overturn the Tenth Circuit Court’s ruling.
“There has been a growing trend of censorship of entire professions,” said Jacob Huebert, President of the Liberty Justice Center. “Across the country, the First Amendment rights of teachers, lawyers, counselors, and more are being repeatedly violated in the name of professional conduct rules. It’s time for the Supreme Court to step in and take up one of these professional speech cases to affirm that working professionals have the same right to free speech as everyone else.”
The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief in Chiles v. Salazar is available here.