Erin Reed2d ago
1. In devastating news, the Supreme Court just ruled in favor of conversion therapy, a practice the UN calls torture. The ruling could have catastrophic consequences, writes Jackson in her sole dissent. The ruling comes on trans day of visibility. Subscribe to support our journalism.

Supreme Court Rules Against Co...
Supreme Court Rules Against Conversion Therapy Bans On Transgender Day Of Visibility

"The fallout could be catastrophic," said Justice Jackson in her lone dissent of the 8-1 opinion.

Erin In The Morning
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
2. The ruling was issued under an 8-1 opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, with only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting. Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, both members of the court's liberal wing, joined the majority but filed their own more limited concurrence.

supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf...
Aristotelis Tzafalias1d ago
Show threadErin Reed
3. The ruling, which holds that speech-based professional conduct is protected by the First Amendment, could open a Pandora's box of challenges to professional regulations across medicine and mental health.
Mar 31 at 4:42pmWeb
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
4. It is likely to invalidate over 23 state laws banning conversion therapy, potentially reinstituting the practice nationwide. The decision comes on Trans Day of Visibility, following five other anti-LGBTQ+ rulings mostly focused on transgender people in the last year alone.

The Supreme Court Just Handed ...
The Supreme Court Just Handed Down Its Fifth Anti-Trans Decision In Less Than a Year

The decision could mandate forced outing of trans youth across America.

Erin In The Morning
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
5. "Her speech does not become 'conduct' just because a government says so or because it may be described as a 'treatment' or 'therapeutic modality.' The First Amendment is no word game, and 'the exercise of constitutional rights' cannot be circumscribed 'by mere labels,'" wrote Gorsuch.
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
6. Justice Jackson, the sole dissenter, responded in scathing terms, reading her dissent from the bench—a step justices reserve for when they believe the majority has made a grave error.
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
7. Under this logic, any medical treatment delivered through words could now carry 1A protection—a framework that could shield a doctor who encourages suicide, a dietician who tells an anorexic patient to eat less, or a therapist who steers a vulnerable client away from life-saving treatment.
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
8. Now, states will have a much more difficult time regulating the practice, although some creative methods may still exist. Harvard's Alejandra Caraballo says states should pass private rights of action to sue therapists providing conversion therapy.
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
9. The case now returns to the Tenth Circuit, where Colorado's law will be evaluated under strict scrutiny—the most demanding constitutional standard, which requires the state to prove the law is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. Few laws survive that test.
Show threadErin Reed2d ago
10. Lastly, EITM is an award-winning media outlet covering LGBTQ+ news every day. You can subscribe to support our journalism at www.erininthemorning.com/subscribe.

Subscribe to Erin In The Morni...
Subscribe to Erin In The Morning

News and discussion on trans legislation and life. Click to read Erin In The Morning, by Erin Reed, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.