"The court reiterated that it’s unconstitutional for the state to eliminate from the public square ideas it dislikes, including the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife."Ĭritics said Smith's argument would allow businesses to skirt anti-discrimination laws.
Supreme Court rightly reaffirmed that the government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe," said Kristen Waggoner, the group's president. Rather, she wanted the high court to invalidate the Colorado law before that could happen.Īlliance Defending Freedom, a religious rights group that represented Smith, said the decision underscored the idea that the government "can’t mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it." Smith was never approached by an LGBTQ couple seeking a matrimonial website. Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, a Denver-based website design firm, said she didn't object to serving LGBTQ customers – only same-sex weddings. Because Smith's websites are custom creations they represent her speech as well as that of her customers, her lawyers argued. Government is generally barred from compelling an artist – or anyone else – to convey a message that they disagree with.Ĭolorado, like 24 other states, prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation by businesses. But during oral arguments in December, the court's conservative justices questioned whether a website designer is more like a retail business or more like an artist. Profoundly wrong."Ĭase tracker: Race, religion and debt: Here are the biggest cases pending at the Supreme CourtĪ Colorado law bars public businesses such as hotels and restaurants from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation – the same law that bars discrimination based on race and gender.
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"The business argues, and a majority of the court agrees, that because the business offers services that are customized and expressive, the free speech clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services," Sotomayor said.
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In a scathing dissent that she read from the bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the case involves "a business open to the public (that) seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owner’s religious belief that same-sex marriages are 'false.'"
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It is the latest in a series of cases to reach the court pitting business owners against LGBTQ customers, although this one focused on free speech rights more than religion.
In a case that could have profound implications for when businesses may turn away customers, the Colorado website designer argued a state anti-discrimination law couldn't be used to compel her to develop same-sex wedding sites. It seeks to use its law to compel an individual to create speech she does not believe." "But in this particular case Colorado does not just seek to ensure the sale of goods or services on equal terms. "Laws along these lines have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans," Gorsuch wrote. The case was decided on ideological lines. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority. WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Friday backed a web designer who wants to decline to create websites for same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs – the latest legal setback for LGBTQ Americans from the high court.
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