The new Supreme Court term that begins Monday promises significant rulings on three of the country’s more divisive culture war issues:
- Can Colorado ban gay conversion therapy?
- Can New Jersey issue a consumer alert about deceptive advertising by a crisis pregnancy clinic?
- Who should be held responsible for illegally cutting off a Rastafarian prisoner’s hair?
Here’s a look at each case and the issues involved.
Colorado ban on gay conversion therapy
Arguments in Chiles v. Salazar are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Colorado is one of 27 states to have some form of ban on conversion therapy designed to help gay and lesbian people embrace heterosexuality. (Colorado is among the states banning the practice outright, while some states merely ban use of state funding for the practice.)
The therapy is supported by Christian groups that see homosexuality as incompatible with Christian faith and is opposed by much of the medical establishment, which has found it to be ineffective and even harmful.
Kaley Chiles
Kaley Chiles, an evangelical Christian counselor in Colorado Springs, asked courts to prevent Colorado from enforcing its 2019 ban on conversion therapy, saying it was a violation of her constitutional rights to free speech — “a gag order on counselors” — that prevented her from caring for her clients’ needs.
A lower court ruled that Colorado is banning a practice and any harm to speech rights is incidental.
Chiles is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the powerhouse conservative Christian law firm famous for its previous Supreme Court victories defending the speech rights of bakers and photographers who refuse to offer their services to same-sex weddings.
A who’s who of conservative Christian groups has submitted amicus briefs supporting Chiles, including the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, the American Association of Christian Counselors, National Religious Broadcasters, Family Research Council, and the Christian Legal Society.
New Jersey and advertising by a crisis pregnancy clinic
No argument date is scheduled for First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin.
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers is a group of Christian crisis pregnancy centers founded to persuade women to bring their pregnancies to term instead of getting abortions. New Jersey claims the center’s advertising is deceptive because it can mislead women into believing the centers provide abortions or abortion referrals.
First Choice claims the state has attacked its First Amendment freedoms.
Rastafarian prisoner’s hair
Arguments in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety are scheduled for Nov. 10.
Damon Landor is a practicing Rastafarian who had grown his hair for nearly 20 years. Nearing the end of a five-month prison sentence, he was transferred to another prison where a warden had him restrained and his hair shaved off. Landor went to court to bring claims against the officials responsible for removing his hair but was told he could not sue the individuals.
His case has attracted support from a diverse range of religious groups supporting his religious freedom and claiming his treatment violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which protects prisoners’ religious rights.
Rastafarians wear dreadlocks to signify a Nazarite vow of spiritual commitment to God, symbolizing purity and a connection to their African heritage. This practice stems from the Old Testament, where the Nazarites, like Samson, did not cut their hair as a sign of devotion. Cutting dreadlocks is seen as breaking this vow, yielding to societal pressures, and may cause immense spiritual distress.