Christian web designer lawsuit overview:
- Who: The Supreme Court voted 6-3 along ideological lines last week in support of Christian website designer Lorie Smith.
- Why: Smith was appealing a 10th Circuit decision not to grant a preliminary injunction preventing civil rights regulators in Colorado from exposing her to legal liability under the state’s anti-discrimination law for refusing to provide web design services for same-sex weddings.
- Where: The lawsuit was in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 last week that a Christian website designer from Colorado could legally refuse to provide their services to create websites for same-sex weddings.
The justices, who voted along ideological lines, ruled the free speech of website designer Lorie Smith — and owner of 303 Creative LLC — would be violated if she were to be exposed to legal liability under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
Smith, who previously filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, argued that, as an artist, she could not be compelled under the state’s anti-discrimination law to provide web design services for same-sex couples’ weddings.
While Smith’s initial attempt at a lawsuit was unsuccessful, the Supreme Court has now sided with her in ruling that the First Amendment prevents the state from being able to force her to create expressive designs that go against her beliefs.
“In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said, writing for the majority.
Ruling undoes 10th Circuit decision not to block state regulators from enforcing anti-discrimination law
The Supreme Court’s ruling undoes a previous 10th Circuit decision, which affirmed a lower court’s decision to refuse to award Smith a preliminary injunction that would have blocked civil rights regulators in the state from enforcing the anti-discrimination law against her.
The state of Colorado, meanwhile, had argued it was not trying to regulate Smith’s freedom of speech but, instead, was attempting to regulate her denial of services to couples of the same sex, when they would otherwise have been made available.
The high court, in ultimately siding with Smith, determined that, if the law was enforced, she would have had to either speak as the state wanted her to or “face sanctions for expressing her own beliefs.”
“Under our precedents, that ‘is enough,’ more than enough, to represent an impermissible abridgment of the First Amendment’s right to speak freely,” Justice Gorsuch wrote.
As part of a similar case, a group of religious organizations from Texas argued in 2020 that discriminating against a job applicant based on their sexual orientation would only be against the law if male and female applicants were treated differently.
Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to side with the Christian web designer? Let us know in the comments!
The Christian web designer lawsuit case is 303 Creative LLC v. Aubrey Elenis, et al., Case No. 21-476, in the Supreme Court of the United States.
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