ILLINOIS – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a Colorado law banning conversion therapy for minors may violate the First Amendment, a decision that could affect future legal challenges to similar laws in Illinois and across the country.

In an 8-1 decision, the court sided with a Colorado Springs counselor who argued the state cannot restrict what she says to clients during therapy sessions. The justices sent the case back to a lower court to decide if the law can hold up under a tougher legal test.

Why this matters in Illinois:

Illinois has banned conversion therapy for minors since 2015 under the Youth Mental Health Protection Act.

That law remains in place today.

What changes is how courts look at it. Judges now have to use a higher legal standard when reviewing laws like this, which could make them easier to challenge.

Scott Bertani, who works in LGBTQ health policy, said the ruling shifts how therapy is viewed under the law.

He said the decision blurs the line between medical care and speech.

“So by framing this law as a restriction on speech instead of what it really is is a regulation of professional conduct… the majority starts to collapse that line between what a licensed therapist practice and just ordinary expression is,” Bertani said.

Different views:

Some legal voices say the ruling could have broad implications.

Chicago attorney John Mauck, who previously challenged Illinois’ law as it applied to pastors, said the decision strengthens free speech protections for counselors.

“Today’s High Court decision effectively rules that the Illinois law banning counseling for licensed counselors is invalid as a violation of free speech rights,” Mauck said in a statement. “The state has no business telling counselors, ‘You can help people go gay, but you can’t help them go straight.’”

Mauck pointed to a 2017 federal case involving Illinois pastors, where a court found the state’s ban did not apply to clergy.

What the court said:

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the Colorado law may “censor speech based on viewpoint,” which raises concerns under the First Amendment.

The case centers on Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor who said clients seek her out because of shared beliefs.

“I want what is best for my clients, and often they seek me out because we have a shared faith,” Chiles said in earlier filings.

Her attorney argued the law blocks certain conversations based on the direction of counseling.

“This law tells them that if they’re seeking help in one direction that licensed mental health professionals and counselors are not available to them,” the attorney said.

Health concerns and risks:

Conversion therapy refers to counseling practices aimed at changing a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Major medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, have said the practice is ineffective and linked to increased risks of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

Bertani said those risks are central to how health experts view the issue.

“Because conversion therapy is not neutral talk. It’s discredited practice,” he said. “And every major medical and mental health body has said that it doesn’t work and that it’s tied to increased risks of depression, anxiety, and suicide, ideation among LGBTQ+ individuals.”

What’s next:

The case now returns to a lower court, which will decide whether Colorado’s law can meet that tougher legal test.

That decision could shape how similar laws are challenged and defended nationwide, including in Illinois, where lawmakers may need to revisit how the ban is written and upheld.

After 21 years of waiting, Illinois (28-8) is finally back in the Final Four. The road to college basketball’s grandest stage was long and bruising, and now the Illini are here at last. Only problem: Waiting on the other side is the closest thing college basketball has to a supervillain – Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies.

The UConn Huskies’ NCAA Tournament domination

UConn (33-5) isn’t just a great team having an exceptional season. It’s a program that has come to expect this kind of success. The Huskies have won two of the past three national championships, and Hurley has gone 17-1 in the NCAA Tournament since 2023. At this point, calling UConn a powerhouse almost feels like an undersell. This is a budding dynasty, and Hurley has proven he is as good as anybody in the sport when the calendar flips to March.

Illinois knows that better than most. In the 2024 Elite Eight, UConn rolled the Illini 77-52 and used a 30-0 run to turn a high-stakes game into a blowout. To be fair, the Huskies were steamrolling just about everybody during that stretch, so Illinois was hardly alone. Still, that kind of loss stays with you. It takes a irremovable place in the memory bank, and becomes part of what makes this rematch feel so important to the Illini.

UConn: A unique offense

A huge reason the Huskies are so difficult to beat is because they do not play like most modern offenses. So many teams today favor offenses that are built around ball screens, isolations, matchup-hunting and one guard dribbling for half a possession while everyone else stands around waiting to see what happens.

That is not UConn.

The Huskies play with constant motion. The ball moves. The players move. Cutters fly through the lane, shooters relocate and defenses are forced to process everything in an instant. There is a rhythm to it that can make even a good defense look disorganized. One missed switch or one late rotation, and suddenly the ball is at the rim or headed to an open shooter.

It’s not especially flashy. It’s just brutally efficient. UConn doesn’t always beat teams by overwhelming them with one star going nuclear. Sometimes it beats them by making them guard every inch of the floor until they finally crack.

The big test of the Big Dance

This is where the challenge gets even bigger. In the NCAA Tournament, nobody has weeks to build a perfect scouting plan. Turnarounds are short, practices are limited and opponents often have to learn on the fly. That makes UConn’s offense even more dangerous, because it isn’t something teams can fully replicate in a couple of walk-throughs.

And that’s not just a March thing.

In UConn’s three Final Four runs over the past four seasons – 2023, 2024 and now 2026 – the Huskies have lost a total of two non-conference regular-season games. One was a four-point road loss at Kansas in 2024. The other came this season in a four-point home loss to Arizona, in a game missed by injured star big man Tarris Reed Jr. That’s a pretty telling stat. Teams that catch UConn for the first time usually don’t walk away happy.

Illinois’ big advantage against UConn: familiarity

The good news for Illinois is that this will not be a blind date.

The Illini have already seen this offense up close. UConn beat Illinois 74-61 on Black Friday earlier this season and, of course, dismantled the Illini in that Elite Eight meeting two years ago. That hardly guarantees that Illinois will shut the Huskies down this time. But it does mean the Illini are not walking into this game blind to UConn’s timing, spacing and swirling movement.

Seeing UConn once gives Illinois a much better sense of what it takes to defend the Huskies. The Illini know how quickly UConn swings the ball, how hard it cuts, how disciplined it is off the ball and how fast one small mistake can turn into a layup or an open three. That experience should make this week’s preparation more valuable, because Illinois isn’t getting ready for some unfamiliar system. It’s preparing for something it has already seen up close.

Why exposure to UConn matters for Illinois

There is some evidence that opponents are better equipped the second or third time around against the Huskies’ machine.

UConn lost second meetings in Big East play this season to Creighton at home and Marquette on the road. Neither of those teams was especially dominant this year. The Huskies also lost to St. John’s once, beat the Red Storm the second time, then lost again the third time. In other words, most of UConn’s struggles came against teams that already knew what was coming.

That’s notable. UConn has lost only five games all season. Four of those losses came against conference opponents that were familiar with the Huskies. The only other one was the four-point Arizona loss without Reed.

The Illinois on SI bottom line

Illinois should be better prepared for UConn than most teams in March have been. The Illini have already seen the ball movement, the cutting and the overall rhythm of Hurley’s offense. They know this isn’t a team you can relax against for even a few possessions. They know what happens when UConn gets comfortable. Everyone in orange and blue remembers that well enough.

But recognition is only step one. The next step is surviving it.

Illinois has spent 21 years waiting for another Final Four opportunity. Now it gets a rematch with the program that once slammed the door on its championship hopes. UConn will still be a brutal challenge, but the Illini aren’t walking into this one blind. They have seen the movement, felt the pressure and know the standard they have to meet – and that’s a much better place to start than the alternative.

While almost all sports betting is now legal and easy in Illinois, wagering on home-state Illini basketball to win the NCAA Final Four is illegal. And that is no doubt surprising and frustrating a lot of Illinois basketball fans as they go to their favorite online betting site, only to find that they can’t bet on their own team here.

U of I may be a winner on the court this season, but they are losing on the wagering front in Illinois.

On the popular gambling site Draft Kings, there is a harsh reality for Illini fans: the school doesn’t exist as a betting option in the Final Four. U of I’s Saturday game against Connecticut is missing and off limits under an Illinois law that prohibits gambling on all in-state NCAA universities.

Right now, there are only three choices to bet on for the National Championship, and Illinois is M-I-A.

When sports betting was made legal in 2020, the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield passed a specific cut-out for in-state teams: all NCAA schools – any game, championship or not – is banned for you to bet on. And in the last six years, sports betting here has generated more than $59 million, and is increasing each year.

“We have definitely seen an increase in people coming in to treatment,” said Anita Pindiur, executive director of the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling. “We have seen about a 30 to 35% increase in young adult males, 18 to 35,” Pindiur said.

For U of I this is a total ban that even includes the trendy “prop” bets, where you concoct your own proposition wager on anything. For instance, betting that the long-banned Chief Illiniwek will make a return at the Final Four. Prop bets involving anything Illini are no-go.

But apparently, those customary friendly bets between state governors are exempt from the Illinois ban. Gov. JB Pritzker – who said he was recently lucky to win 1.4 million dollars in a Vegas blackjack game – on Monday said he has some kind of interstate sports bet brewing with Connecticut’s Democratic Gov. Ned LaMont.

“I already got a call from the governor of Connecticut, because we’re playing against the University of Connecticut on Saturday. And he wants to make a bet…a public…so you’ll be hearing about that,” Gov. Pritzker said.

Gov. Lamont’s spokesman told NBC Chicago the wager details are now being finalized, and Pritzker’s office told us there would be an announcement with details on Tuesday.

Illinois is now the nation’s second-biggest legal sports betting market and is not alone with this regulation. Several other states have similar local school laws. 

We asked U of I officials about the ban on local college bets here. A university spokesperson told us: they aren’t involved in any efforts to change the law or those restrictions. There is one legal workaround: drive to Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin or Michigan and go to a casino sportsbook there to place a bet on the Illini.  

For anyone who needs help due to gambling abuse, the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling hotline is 1-800-GAMBLER and it is staffed 24/7 with experts who speak numerous languages. There are also problem gambling resources available at the Illinois helpline: Areyoureallywinning.com