Conversion Therapy at the Court
Plus: Air traffic controllers get mysteriously sick, California gubernatorial contenders can't answer basic questions, and more...
Supreme Court takes on conversion therapy: Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case that will have far-reaching implications when a ruling is released in June. It deals with the Colorado law banning conversion therapy for gay and transgender minors, and weighing therapists' free speech rights (versus whether the statute places a "legal regulation on professional conduct," as The New York Times put it).
Colorado's existing statute prohibits "any practice or treatment" that attempts to change a minor's "gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex." Therapist Kaley Chiles "wishes to counsel religious teens dealing with their sexual orientation and gender dysphoria in ways she says are consistent with biblical teachings on identity," per The Washington Post. Chiles says she "does not want to convert gay and transgender teens, but wants to help those who wish to 'reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with one's physical body.'" Lawyers for Chiles have argued that the current law respects the rights of therapists who wish to offer so-called "gender-affirming" care, but not Christian therapists who wish to offer something that could be construed as the inverse. Colorado's solicitor general, on the other hand, says the state is regulating the quality of medical treatment provided to protect residents from harm.
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"People have been trying to do conversion therapy for 100 years with no record of success," Colorado's solicitor general told the justices, citing opposition by groups like the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association. "The medical consensus is usually very reasonable and it's very important. But have there been times when the medical consensus has been politicized, has been taken over by ideology?" Justice Samuel Alito countered, hitting the nail right on the head.
I know it's less sexy than the arguments flying back and forth at SCOTUS, but I think the Colorado "conversion therapy" ban is unconstitutionally vague. I read the statute several times and I can't tell what's permitted and what's prohibited.
— Dilan Esper (@dilanesper) October 7, 2025
Now what does it mean to "change behaviors or gender expression"? Doesn't a whole bunch of therapy try and change behaviors?
And what about suggesting a patient transition because they have gender dysphoria? Is that an "effort to change gender expression"?
— Dilan Esper (@dilanesper) October 7, 2025
Why has this not been a bigger news story? On Sunday, a man with over 200 homemade explosive devices was arrested outside the D.C. church where Supreme Court justices were slated to attend a service marking the start of their term. With him was a manifesto condemning Catholics, Jews, Supreme Court justices, and ICE.
"D.C. police first approached [Louis] Geri inside a green tent posted on the top of the stairs leading to St. Matthew's Cathedral as they cleared the block for Red Mass—an annual religious service marking the start of a new Supreme Court term and honoring the judiciary," reports The Washington Post. "You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives," Geri told the cops. "Do you want me to throw one out, I'll test one out on the streets? I have a hundred-plus of them," he added, according to court records. "If you just step back, I'll take out that tree. No one will get hurt, there will just be a hole where that tree used to be."
"Several of your people are gonna die from one of these," he told the cops, as he was being apprehended. Devices appeared "fully functional" after being inspected by specialists, per court records, and Geri—who is being held without bond—faces eight charges.
Scenes from New York: I know this is a little hyperlocal, but yesterday we had two broad-daylight subway-system crimes: One man, beaten to death around 3 p.m. at a downtown Brooklyn station; another man, whose face and back were slashed with a knife, around 4 p.m. at a train station in Jackson Heights, Queens.
A man was viciously beaten to death outside a subway station in downtown Brooklyn this afternoon — and his still-at-large attacker rifled through his pockets before fleeing.
The battered victim was unconscious and unresponsive with severe injuries across his face and body when… pic.twitter.com/liYSkLdRfE
— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) October 7, 2025
QUICK HITS
- Massive delays snarled air traffic at Nashville and Chicago airports, and the Federal Aviation Administration—which says it's been missing about 3,000 controllers nationwide for a while, in need of new hires—reported that air traffic control in Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Houston, and Boston were also short-staffed. "The Nashville airport said that controllers would rely on radar systems from the airport tower Tuesday night because of 'insufficient staffing' and that the en route center in Memphis—more than 200 miles away—would take over approach control later in the evening," reports The New York Times. The controllers' union released a rather strange statement saying that "it is normal for a few air traffic controllers to call in sick on any given day, and this is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals." During government shutdowns, controllers are expected to work without pay, but federal law guarantees they'll receive full backpay when it ends. I wonder if this mysterious sickness will suddenly cease when the shutdown ends.
- "We can't have a policy where we just blow up ships where we don't even know the people's names," said Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) to Bloomberg. "It can't be the policy for drug interdiction, either in the country or outside the country." Paul cited the high error rate of Coast Guard interdictions, which don't end up finding drugs about one-quarter of the time. "So they have made an error, but they don't kill them. But we've blown up four boats now, and if the percentages hold true, did one of those four boats not have drug dealers on it?" he asked.
- New pattern emerging: Grand juries declining to indict protesters engaged in activities opposed to Trump's immigration enforcement.
- Meet "Porky," Lima's MAGA mayor.
- Katie Porter, who is running for governor of California, throws a fit over being asked to answer basic questions:
The Leading CA Democrat attempts to implode her own campaign in one single interview pic.twitter.com/cpVJ2hgnzJ
— OC Scanner ???????? ???????? (@OC_Scanner) October 7, 2025
- Here's how some New Yorkers remembered October 7:
New York takes another step towards being London with a big celebration of slaughtering Jewish women and children pic.twitter.com/bGHvNELToK
— Inez Stepman ⚪️????⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) October 7, 2025