by Jorge Gomez • 3 minutes
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court kicked off its fall term—which looks to be another blockbuster for religious liberty.
The Court didn’t waste any time. On Tuesday, the justices heard Chiles v Salazar, a free speech case with implications for religious freedom. It involves a Colorado law banning licensed counselors from discussing certain types of counseling with minors.
This ban bars professional counselors like petitioner Kaley Chiles from engaging in faith-based talk therapy with her clients if she does not provide the “gender affirming” perspective the state requires. She’s represented by our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom.
First Liberty filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Heartbeat International, a nonprofit, Christian organization whose mission is to support the pro-life cause through a network of pregnancy resource centers. Heartbeat is concerned with recent state efforts—like the one in Colorado—to restrict certain types of speech, including religious speech, simply because it is adjacent to medical practice.
“Americans should never have their professional speech censored simply because the government disfavors that speech,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO and Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “In this case, the Supreme Court can once again remind state governments that the Constitution actually means what it says when it protects the free speech of its citizens.”
The outcome of Chiles could ensure that government officials don’t impose their ideology on private conversations between medical professionals and patients. This will impact therapists and providers across America who offer care, advice and counsel from a religious perspective.
There are also two major First Liberty cases in play at the Supreme Court right now.
Your Right to Go to Court When Your Freedom is Attacked
The Court has agreed to hear and will soon schedule the argument in our case involving Mississippi evangelist Gabriel Olivier, who was banned by a local ordinance from sharing his faith in a public park.
Gabe filed a lawsuit claiming his constitutional rights were violated. But he never got the opportunity to plead his case in court. That’s the legal issue the Supreme Court will consider.
This is a major case that affects religious freedom and civil rights. It presents the nation’s highest court with an opportunity to strengthen protections for religious liberty, free speech and the right to challenge injustice—including violations of their religious freedom.
“Every American has First Amendment rights to free speech; and every American has a right to their day in court,” said Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty. “Both of these rights were violated for Gabe Olivier. The Supreme Court will now decide whether those rights will be protected for all Americans.”
Making Sure Government Can’t Declare Prayer “Out of Bounds”
We’re also waiting to see whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear our Cambridge Christian School case. In that case, our client was banned from praying over the loudspeaker at a football game against another Christian school.
A federal appeals court issued an alarming decision that said the Florida High School Athletic Association could censor religious speech because the requested prayer of Cambridge Christian was “government speech.”
The appellate court relied on Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000), a bad precedent that’s been on the books for 25 years.
The FHSAA’s ban on prayer is unconstitutional and sets a dangerous precedent—which is why we’ve asked nation’s highest court to make it clear that state officials can’t censor religious speech by simply labeling it “government speech.”
A win in our Cambridge case would deliver justice to our clients, who’ve been fighting in court for 10 years. Plus, the Supreme Court also has an opportunity to review and possibly overturn Santa Fe, which has stifled the free expression of students for over two decades.
Our petition to the Supreme Court explains that the lower court’s decision should be reversed in light of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, First Liberty’s landmark victory for Coach Joe Kennedy.
In Kennedy, the Supreme Court held that private speech, even if occurring on government property, is doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech clauses of the First Amendment.
Please continue to pray for the Supreme Court justices as they deliberate on our Cambridge case. The stakes in this case couldn’t be any higher. With this case, the nation’s highest court can strengthen protections for religious freedom, ensuring that all students can freely express their faith without censorship.
 |
|
|
