The US Supreme Court appeared poised on Tuesday to back a challenge by a Christian therapist to a Colorado law that bans “conversion therapy” for minors who are questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation.The case was brought by Kaley Chiles, a licensed mental health counselor who argues that the prohibition from holding such conversations with minors is a violation of her First Amendment free speech rights.Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law, passed in 2019, prohibits licensed mental health professionals from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of their patients under 18 years old.Conversion therapy is banned in more than 20 US states and much of Europe, with both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association opposed to its use.”Miss Chiles is being silenced and the kids and families who want her help are unable to access it,” James Campbell, her lawyer, told the conservative majority court during 90 minutes of oral arguments.”She’s discussing concepts of identity and behavior and attractions and how they fit together,” Campbell said. “That absolutely has to be protected by the First Amendment.”Campbell, a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group, dismissed studies showing conversion therapy can be harmful, saying they “treat voluntary conversations the same as shock therapy.”Chiles brought her case before the nation’s top court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority, after two lower courts ruled in favor of Colorado.- ‘Debunked’ -Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, asked Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson, who was defending the law, to point to the “best evidence” that talk therapy causes harm to minors.”All of the theories underlying conversion therapy have been debunked,” Stevenson said, adding that there is “not a single expert, not a single study, not a single mental health professional willing to endorse conversion therapy.””People have been trying to do conversion therapy for 100 years with no record of success,” she said.”The harms from conversion therapy come from when you tell a young person you can change this innate thing about yourself and they try and they try and they fail,” she said.”And then they have shame and they’re miserable and then it ruins their relationships with their family.”Justice Samuel Alito, an archconservative, pushed back, saying medical consensus is “usually very reasonable” but there have been occasions when it “has been politicized, has been taken over by ideology.”Alito cited “a time when many medical professionals thought that certain people should not be permitted to procreate because they had low IQs” or recommended that children with Down Syndrome be institutionalized.After taking office for his second term in January, President Donald Trump said the US government would henceforth only recognize two genders — male and female — and signed an executive order restricting gender transition medical procedures for people under the age of 19.In June, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold a Tennessee state law banning hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for minors.The court is expected to rule on the conversion therapy case in June and its decision could impact more than 20 other states with similar bans.The Supreme Court will also hear a challenge this term to state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban transgender girls from taking part in girls’ sports — another issue at the heart of the American culture wars.

President Donald Trump struck a friendly tone with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Tuesday, hailing progress towards a trade deal but offering few concrete concessions on steep US tariffs.Trump repeatedly showered praise on “great leader” Carney, who was under pressure at home to show progress from his second visit to the White House since taking office in April.”I think they’re going to walk away very happy,” Trump told reporters as he sat alongside Carney in the Oval Office. “And I think we’ve come a long way over the last few months, actually, in terms of that relationship.”Trump said that the North American neighbors had “natural conflict” over business as their manufacturers were competing for the same market but said there was “nothing wrong with it.”Carney said he was confident that Canada would “get the right deal” from the United States, his country’s main economic partner.The pair shared a series of light-hearted moments, even laughing as Trump joked about a Canadian “merger” in a reference to his previous calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.”He is a world-class leader,” Trump said of the former central banker. “He’s a nice man, but he can be very nasty.”But Trump and Carney studiously avoided giving any precise details on how they might ease US tariffs on lumber, aluminum, steel and automobiles. On Monday, the US president announced 25 percent tariffs on all imported heavy trucks starting November 1.The 60-year-old Carney entered politics less than a year ago after campaigning on his extensive crisis management experience as a way of countering Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.But while the vast majority of Canada’s trade remains protected by the USMCA, a free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, Trump has called for revisions when it comes up for renegotiation soon.Seventy-five percent of Canada’s exports are sold across its southern border. Canada saw its GDP decline by 1.5 percent in the second quarter, adding to the economic pressure.- ‘Broken promises’ -Before the visit Canada’s opposition heaped pressure on Carney, as the country is the last major US ally not to seal a deal with Washington.”If you return with excuses, broken promises and photo ops, you will have failed our workers, our businesses and our country,” conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in an open letter to Carney on Monday.Carney faces particular criticism for making concessions to Trump while getting little in return.At the end of June, Carney canceled a tax targeting American tech giants under pressure from Trump, who called it outrageous. He also lifted many of the tariffs imposed by the previous government. “Mark Carney has no choice, he must return from Washington with progress,” said Daniel Beland, a political scientist at McGill University in Montreal, pointing to the steel and aluminum tariffs as key areas.But Carney at least seemed to have negotiated the first hurdle of an Oval Office visit.While the Canadian safely navigated his first appearance there six months ago, Trump has previously savaged visiting foreign leaders in the gilded room, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.”These meetings can easily go off track, and everything plays out publicly,” said Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa.Last week, Trump once again brought up the possibility of annexing Canada during a speech to US generals and admirals, referencing the country’s potential participation in a new “Golden Dome” missile shield.