Case Explained: Wyatt Bury, LLC; Ballpark Investments, LLC, doing business as Hope & Healing Counseling; Wyatt Bury; Pamela Eisenreich State of Missouri ex rel. MO Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway v. City of Kansas City, Missouri; Jackson County, Missouri —————————— The Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity; International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice; Laura Haynes, Dr.; The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; State of Missouri; State of Alabama; State of Alaska; State of Arkansas; State of Florida; State of Georgia; State of Idaho; State of Iowa; State of Kansas; State of Louisiana; State of Montana; State of Nebraska; State of North Dakota; State of Ohio; State of Oklahoma; State of South Carolina; State of South Dakota; State of Texas; State of West Virginia Amici

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Filed: 2026-07-02

The eighth-circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of the appellants’ First Amendment free speech challenges to the Counseling Ordinances and the Public Accommodation Ordinance, as well as the dismissal of their unconstitutionally vague challenge to the Counseling Ordinances, and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court held that these claims were inextricably bound up with the denial of the preliminary injunction and therefore within its jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). The basis for reversal was the intervening Supreme Court decision in *Chiles v. Salazar*, 146 S. Ct. 1010 (2026), which rejected the argument that statutes regulating conversion therapy regulate professional conduct rather than speech, instead finding such regulations trigger strict scrutiny because they regulate content and discriminate based on viewpoint. The court determined that the district court’s reliance on the speech-conduct distinction was inconsistent with *Chiles* and that the district court should address the impact of this new authority in the first instance. Consequently, the case is remanded to the district court to reconsider the complaint and the request for a preliminary injunction consistent with the standards established in *Chiles*.

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