In a recent ruling, the United States Supreme Court declared that Colorado is not permitted to mandate a Christian website designer to create websites endorsing same-sex marriage. The decision, which came in the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, was announced with a 6-3 majority, stating that Lorie Smith, associated with 303 Creative, cannot be legally compelled under state civil rights law to design websites that contradict her deeply-held religious convictions.
Christian Today reports:
(CP) The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Colorado cannot force a Christian website designer to create websites celebrating same-sex marriage.
In a decision released Friday morning in the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the high court ruled 6-3 that Lorie Smith of 303 Creative could not be compelled by state civil rights law to make websites that go against her sincerely-held religious beliefs.
Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the opinion of the court, being joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Gorsuch wrote that “no public accommodations law is immune from the demands of the Constitution” and expressed concern over the state’s attempt to control Smith’s speech.
“Under Colorado’s logic, the government may compel anyone who speaks for pay on a given topic to accept all commissions on that same topic—no matter the underlying message—if the topic somehow implicates a customer’s statutorily protected trait,” wrote Gorsuch.
“Equally, the government could force a male website designer married to another man to design websites for an organization that advocates against same-sex marriage … As our precedents recognize, the First Amendment tolerates none of that.”
Gorsuch went on to note that “commitment to speech for only some messages and some persons is no commitment at all” and that “the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong.”
Smith took the first step in 2016 when she initiated a pre-enforcement challenge against the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. She contended that the law would compel her to provide services that directly contradicted her deeply-held belief that marriage should be recognized as a union between a man and a woman.
In 2016, Lorie Smith of 303 Creative filed a pre-enforcement challenge to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, arguing that the law would force her to offer services that violated her sincerely held belief that marriage is a union between one man and one woman.
Read the full article here.
About Post Author
