Supreme Court To Hear Blockbuster Case on Free Speech
(RightWing.org) – In 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado bakery that refused to design a wedding cake for a same-sex couple based on the owner’s religious beliefs. SCOTUS held that state officials violated the bakery owner’s rights by acting hostile towards his beliefs — but did not rule on the intersection of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) with the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. However, the court is about to hear a blockbuster case regarding that exact conflict.
On February 22, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari for a Colorado website designer named Lorie Smith to determine the narrow question of whether enforcing CADA violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause.
Artist at center of Supreme Court fight ‘rocked’ by Colorado law that makes her cater to same-sex weddings https://t.co/P5mlZ0lEEH
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 19, 2022
Smith decided to start designing wedding websites but wanted to post a disclaimer on her site advising she would not accept projects for same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs. Upon discovering that such an action would violate the CADA, she filed a lawsuit against Colorado, seeking to block enforcement of the law. However, the district court ruled against Smith in 2019, and she lost her case before the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in mid-2021. Now she wants the high court to weigh in.
The potential implications of the outcome of Smith’s case for other business owners cannot be understated. If SCOTUS rules in Smith’s favor, other businesses could use the precedence to obtain a favorable ruling or overturn anti-discrimination laws targeting them for the free exercise of their religious beliefs.
The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for December 5 and is expected to hand down a decision in 2023.
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