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Supreme Court to decide whether website designer may decline same-sex weddings

Supreme Court to decide whether website designer may decline same-sex weddings

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will decide whether a web designer may decline to make wedding websites for same-sex couples in a case that could have sweeping implications in the battle over LGBTQ rights.

Ever since the nation's highest court handed down a landmark ruling in 2015 legalizing same-sex marriage, the justices have been confronted with a barrage of lawsuits involving wedding photographers, bakers and other matrimonial businesses that claim serving same-sex couples would violate their constitutional rights.

The court has largely dodged a fundamental question presented by those cases: whether denying service to LGBTQ customers because of religious objections is illegal discrimination – or is protected by the First Amendment.

Lorie Smith, a graphic and website designer in Denver, intends to develop sites for weddings but wants to decline to provide her services for same-sex weddings. She sued the Colorado Civil Rights Division and other state entities in 2016, asserting the state's anti-discrimination laws violate her First Amendment rights to free speech and to practice her religion.

In agreeing to take the case Tuesday, the high court limited the appeal to consideration of only the free speech claims. The court declined to hear another question raised by the lawsuit: whether Colorado's law violates precedent on religious freedom and whether the court should consider overruling that precedent.

A panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver sided with Colorado last year. The 2-1 decision found the state has a compelling interest in protecting members of the LBGTQ community from discrimination.

"The government doesn't have the power to silence or compel creative expression under the threat of punishment," said Kristen Waggoner with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Smith in the case. "It’s shocking that the 10th Circuit would permit Colorado to punish artists whose speech isn’t in line with state-approved ideology."

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, said the state would "vigorously defend" the law.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that anti-discrimination laws, like Colorado’s, apply to all businesses selling goods and services," he said. "Companies cannot turn away LGBT customers just because of who they are."

The Supreme Court will probably hear arguments in the case in the fall.

The Supreme Court says it will consider whether a website designer in Colorado can deny her services to same-sex couples.
The Supreme Court says it will consider whether a website designer in Colorado can deny her services to same-sex couples.

Colorado baker Jack Phillips challenged the same anti-discrimination law in a case decided by the Supreme Court four years ago.

A divided court absolved Phillips in 2018 of discrimination claims for refusing to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple, ruling that the state had exhibited "religious hostility" against him. The court never resolved the broader question of whether opponents of same-sex marriage, including florists, photographers and videographers, can refuse commercial wedding services to LGBTQ couples.

The government cannot impose regulations that are hostile to citizens' religious beliefs, a 7-2 majority wrote in the decision, but the ruling was limited to Colorado's treatment of Phillips specifically. It was handed down when the high court included Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, a swing vote who championed LGBTQ rights.

Since then, Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case involving Phillips, and Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a reliable liberal vote, have been replaced by associate justices nominated by President Donald Trump.

Baker: Supreme Court rules for baker who refused same-sex couple

Florist: SCOTUS won't hear case of florist who denied service to same-sex wedding

In July, the high court turned away a similar challenge from a Washington state florist who declined to create an arrangement for a same-sex wedding. Three conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – said they would have taken the case. The move left in place a state court ruling against the florist.

LGBTQ rights groups said the decision to hear arguments in the Smith case is an opportunity to settle the outstanding question the high court has avoided.

"It is time once and for all to put to rest these businesses' attempts to undermine the civil rights of LGBTQ people in the name of religion," said Jennifer Pizer, legal senior counsel with the LGBTQ rights group Lambda. "The constitutional protections for religious freedom and free speech were never intended as weapons of discrimination."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court to decide if web designer can decline same-sex weddings