Kansas City, Missouri is arguing in federal court that it has the power to force Christian counselors to affirm same-sex marriages in their private practice — and that the First Amendment has absolutely nothing to say about it. Because apparently the Bill of Rights is just a suggestion now if you live in a blue city.
Nothing says "land of the free" quite like the government telling you what to believe during a therapy session you're paying for out of your own pocket.
Licensed counselors Wyatt Bury and Pamela Eisenreich are the ones caught in the crosshairs here. Both practice faith-based counseling in the Kansas City area, and both have been dragged into the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals for daring to suggest that maybe — just maybe — the government shouldn't be able to compel speech inside a private counseling room. They're challenging both Kansas City's public accommodation ordinance and Jackson County's counseling ban, which together create a legal vise grip on any therapist who won't toe the progressive line on marriage.
The case landed before 8th Circuit Judges Steven Colloton, a George W. Bush nominee, Bobby Shepherd, and Jonathan Kobes, a Donald Trump nominee. And the arguments from the government side were, shall we say, revealing.
Kansas City attorney Tara Kelly tried to play it cool, telling the court, "I know of nothing coming out of our civil rights enforcement division" — as if to suggest the city would never actually enforce its own law. Right. They just want it on the books for decoration. Like a constitutional throw pillow.
Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Bryan Neihart wasn't buying it either. "They seem to be retreating, potentially," he told Just The News. And why wouldn't they retreat? The legal ground beneath them is crumbling faster than a California freeway.
The Supreme Court has been systematically dismantling these compelled-speech schemes for years now. The Masterpiece Cakeshop case. The 303 Creative case. And just recently, 8 justices ruled in Chiles v. Colorado that the state couldn't enforce its so-called "conversion therapy" ban against counselor Kaley Chiles. Eight justices. That's not a close call. That's a constitutional beatdown.
The 8th Circuit itself already set precedent in Telescope Media Group v. Lucero, a Minnesota case where the court ruled that the government can't force creative professionals to produce content that violates their beliefs. But Kansas City and Jackson County attorney Theresa Bullington apparently missed that memo. Or read it and decided they didn't care.
Here's what's really going on. These local governments know they're going to lose. They've seen the Supreme Court rulings. They've seen their own circuit's precedent. But they keep these laws on the books anyway because the process is the punishment. Drag a Christian counselor through years of litigation, rack up legal fees, send a message to every other believer in the profession: shut up or we'll make your life miserable.
It's the same playbook they used against Cathy Miller, the Tastries bakery owner in California. The same playbook they used in Colorado. Over and over. Lose in court, shrug, then try it again in a different zip code.
The good news is that the courts are running out of patience with this game. The bad news is that your tax dollars in Kansas City are being spent to argue that the government should control what a counselor says in a private session with a willing client. Land of the free, folks — as long as Kansas City approves of your beliefs first.