SCOTUS hears challenge to ‘conversion therapy’ ban

04:32 |

The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Colorado's ban on "conversion therapy." Plus, the 1st Circuit will weigh the FCC's cap on inmate phone charges; the RNC will urge the 9th Circuit to revive its lawsuit accusing Google of intentionally misdirecting its messages to users' spam folders; and AG Pam Bondi will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing. Here's a Jurassic creature that's half snake, half lizard — Tuesday energy, basically. Let's dive in!

US Supreme Court to examine Colorado's gay 'conversion therapy' ban

REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a challenge to Colorado's ban on "conversion therapy" intended to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity. Here's what to know:

- Colorado's law prohibits licensed mental healthcare providers from engaging in "conversion therapy" with patients younger than age 18, with violations punishable by disciplinary action before a state licensing board. Read more about the law here.
- Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the nation's first openly gay man to be elected as a state governor, signed the bill into law. Polis has called conversion therapy "a tortuous practice that has long been widely discredited by medical and mental health professionals."
- Kaley Chiles, a Christian therapist, is appealing a lower court decision that rejected her claim that the 2019 statute unlawfully censors her communications with clients in violation of First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech. Read the 10th Circuit decision here.
- Chiles is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that has challenged other LGBTQ+ protections. The Trump administration filed an amicus brief supporting Chiles, which you can read here.
- Colorado has said it is regulating professional conduct, not speech. It is among more than two dozen states and D.C. that restrict or prohibit conversion therapy for minors.
- In 2022, the 9th Circuit upheld a Washington state ban against a similar challenge, in which the plaintiff was also represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. In 2023, SCOTUS declined to take up that case.
- The "conversion therapy" case is just one of several major cases on the Supreme Court docket this term where the justices will wade back into the nation's "culture wars." Read more about that here.

Coming up today

A group of Republican-led states and companies that provide calling services in prisons and jails will urge the 1st Circuit to overturn the FCC's decision during the Biden administration to impose a cap on the amount inmates can be charged for telephone use. The FCC is continuing to defend the policy during the Trump administration, saying the companies are monopolists who often exploit their economic position.
The 5th Circuit will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by the National Infusion Center Association alleging that the Inflation Reduction Act's Medicare drug price negotiation process violates the Fifth Amendment's due process clause.
The Republican National Committee will urge the 9th Circuit to revive its lawsuit accusing Google of intentionally misdirecting the political party's email messages to users' spam folders. Read the lower court decision.
Biotech company Regenxbio and the University of Pennsylvania will ask the Federal Circuit to revive a patent lawsuit they filed against Sarepta Therapeutics over its treatment for the degenerative disorder Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The plaintiffs will ask the court to reverse a ruling that the gene-therapy patent they accused Sarepta of infringing was invalid.
The Texas Supreme Court will consider whether to enforce the state's request for information from PFLAG as part of its investigation on whether doctors are evading the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose controversial leadership at the DOJ has included launching criminal investigations into President Trump's enemies, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing.
The Federal Circuit Bar Association will host a program at the Harvard Club of Boston featuring judges from the Federal Circuit, the 1st Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, will be sentenced after pleading guilty to charges that she threatened to kill individuals including U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the federal judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion criminal case against President Trump.
New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi is scheduled to plead guilty and be sentenced in Merrimack Superior Court in Concord after being indicted last year on charges that she attempted to interfere with a criminal investigation into her husband, who was the longtime director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors. Read the filing.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

More top news

Industry insight

U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago sentenced David Lira, the son-in-law of convicted California attorney Tom Girardi, to four months in prison after he was charged alongside Girardi with misappropriating millions of dollars in client settlement funds. Find out more.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a former Locke Lord partner who sought to overturn his conviction tied to a nearly $400 million fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. Read more.
Orrick hired a group of 37 lawyers to its debt finance team from Cadwalader. More on that here.
More moves: Former Amazon lawyer Kieran Dwyer moved to Greenberg Traurig's corporate, innovation and AI practice … Baker McKenzie added litigator Dale Bish from Wilson Sonsini … Former Texas AG privacy enforcer Tyler Bridegan moved to Womble's privacy and cybersecurity practice … Corporate partner Nathan Hertzog joined Bradley from Abacus Investments … Commercial finance partner Sarah Naseman left Porter Hedges for Frost Brown Todd.

"No less than the attorneys who appear before them, judges must be held to the highest standards of integrity, candor, and factual accuracy."

—U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, in letters to U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals in New Jersey and U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate in Mississippi, asking them to answer questions about whether AI was used to prepare recent orders that contained "substantive errors." The two judges in a pair of separate, unrelated lawsuits in July withdrew written rulings after lawyers in the cases said they contained factual inaccuracies and other serious errors. Read more.

In the courts

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to halt key parts of a judge's order requiring Google to make major changes to its app store Play, as the company prepares to appeal a decision in a lawsuit brought by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her conviction for helping the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. Meanwhile, the high court allowed key parts of an order requiring Google to make major changes to its app store Play. The court also rejected cases involving Turkey's Halkbank, SAP's bid to avoid a rival's antitrust suit, a Russian bank's appeal over a Malaysia Airlines crash, Live Nation's bid to move a ticket price case to arbitration, a Missouri law intended to prevent enforcement of several federal gun laws in the state, and an appeal by Purdue Pharma in the OxyContin patent case.
Illinois filed a lawsuit seeking to block President Trump from deploying hundreds of federalized National Guard troops into the streets of Chicago. Read the complaint.
Harvard University can be sued by families alleging it mishandled the bodies of loved ones donated to its medical school and whose parts were then sold on the black market by the former manager of its morgue, Massachusetts' top court ruled. Read the decision.
Anthropic lost a bid to dismiss parts of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by music publishers over Anthropic's alleged misuse of their song lyrics in its AI training. Read U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee's order.
The 3rd Circuit rejected Novo Nordisk's challenge to the U.S. government's program that gives the Medicare health insurance plan the power to negotiate lower drug prices, the latest challenge to fail after a barrage of lawsuits brought by drugmakers. Read the opinion.
A group of labor unions, nonprofits and solar companies sued the Trump administration over its cancellation of a $7 billion Biden-era grant program that aimed to expand solar energy to low-income communities. Read the complaint.

Attorney Analysis

Winston & Strawn's Jeffrey Steinfeld and Michael Stern examine the potential impact of mandatory arbitration provisions on securities claims. Read today's Attorney Analysis.

Additional writing by Shruthi Krishnamurthy.

Contact

Caitlin Tremblay

caitlin.tremblay@thomsonreuters.com

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