On March 10, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear Chiles v. Salazar, a case challenging Colorado’s restrictions on the free speech of counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals.
The Liberty Justice Center filed an amicus brief in the case in December 2024, urging the Court to hear counselor Kaley Chiles’s challenge to Colorado’s Mental Health Practice Act, which prohibits licensed mental health professionals from offering counseling if the therapist expresses views on sexual orientation or gender identity the state disapproves of.
Plaintiff Kaley Chiles sued to challenge the law, arguing that it infringed on therapists’ First Amendment rights by discriminating against speech based on that speech’s content, and on the viewpoint the speech expresses. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Chiles, upholding the law, and Chiles filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to hear the case. The Supreme Court granted that petition today.
“No one should be forced to give up their right to free speech in order to practice their profession,” said Jacob Huebert, President of the Liberty Justice Center. “We are glad to see the Supreme Court accept Chiles’s case, and trust that they will find the State of Colorado’s attempts to silence therapists’ speech unconstitutional.”
The Liberty Justice Center continues to fight for First Amendment rights and defend the freedom of speech at no cost to its clients or to taxpayers.
The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief filing is available here.