Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cut straight to the heart of Chiles v. Salazar with one hypothetical: If a dietitian decides to help anorexics starve themselves, can the government stop them?

That might seem like a useless question — obviously, no dietitian would do that, and obviously, if they did, the government should ban it. But while a law might be unnecessary in practice, exploring imaginary extremes can help us understand principles and their limits.

In this case, heard by the Supreme Court last week, the principle was free expression. Colorado has banned LGBT “conversion therapies” that aim to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Therapist Kaley Chiles argues that this infringes on her First Amendment rights. The state of Colorado unsurprisingly disagrees

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