The U.S. Supreme Court is agreeing to hear a case involving a state ban against “conversion therapy.” On Monday, the nation’s highest court issued an order placing the case Chiles v. Salazar on its docket, agreeing to hear the case and grant a writ of certiorari. Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a petition with the court in November, asking the justices of the court to hear the case.

Chiles v. Salazar is centered on Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor and a Christian in Colorado. ADF’s petition explained that the counselor “believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex. Many of her clients seek her counsel precisely because they believe that their faith and their relationship with God establishes the foundation upon which to understand their identity and desires.” However, the counseling Chiles offers is restricted by a Colorado law banning “consensual conversations” encouraging minors to change their “sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions…” That law only prohibits counseling minors against gender ideology, but permits counseling minors to pursue or embrace gender ideology.

Previously, Chiles had challenged Colorado’s law, arguing that it violated her First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But a U.S. District Court sided with the state and the U.S. Circuit Court for the Tenth Circuit subsequently rejected Chiles’s appeal, claiming that Colorado’s law was based on “evidence” that “conversion therapy” is harmful to minors. ADF noted that both the Tenth and Ninth Circuit Courts now classify counseling as “conduct,” which can be regulated by the state, while the Eleventh and Third Circuit Courts classify it as “speech,” which is constitutionally protected. ADF asked the Supreme Court to answer whether “a law that censors certain conversations between counselors and their clients based on the viewpoints expressed regulates conduct or violates the Free Speech Clause.”

ADF CEO Kristen Waggoner said in a statement, “The government has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government’s biased views on her clients.” She continued, “Colorado’s law prohibits what’s best for these children and sends a clear message: the only option for children struggling with these issues is to give them dangerous and experimental drugs and surgery that will make them lifelong patients.” Waggoner added, “We are eager to defend Kaley’s First Amendment rights and ensure that government officials may not impose their ideology on private conversations between counselors and clients.”

In 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a similar case, challenging a law in Washington that bans “conversion therapy” for minors. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas dissented and would have heard the case. In his dissenting opinion, Thomas wrote, “There is a fierce public debate over how best to help minors with gender dysphoria.” Observing that the Ninth Circuit Court had upheld “conversion therapy” bans while the Eleventh Circuit Court had deemed such bans unconstitutional, he averred that the Supreme Court should hear the case because “this question has divided the Courts of Appeals and strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.” Alito, in his dissenting opinion, wrote, “This case presents a question of national importance. In recent years, 20 States and the District of Columbia have adopted laws prohibiting or restricting the practice of conversion therapy. It is beyond dispute that these laws restrict speech, and all restrictions on speech merit careful scrutiny.”

It is not clear whether the Supreme Court will hear Chiles v. Salazar in its current term or in its next term, which begins in October.