The Supreme Court heard a case on Monday that could carry heavy weight at the intersection of gay and religious rights as it decides whether a Christian business could deny service to someone because of their sexual orientation.
The case involves a Colorado-based web designer, Lorie Smith, and whether or not she is obligated under state laws to design websites for weddings of same-sex couples.
The state of Colorado presented its argument before the court on Monday, arguing in favor of its public accommodation law. The state’s solicitor general argued that the law requires Smith to provide services to same-sex couples as she would for heterosexual couples, Politco reported.
In not providing the service, Colorado argued that Smith had discriminated against couples because of their sexual orientation, a direct violation of the state’s public accommodation law.
“What the company said is under no circumstances will they provide a wedding website for a same-sex wedding, and that is status-based discrimination,” Colorado solicitor General Eric Olson said.
Smith’s counsel argued that her refusal to create wedding websites for same-sex couples was message-based and that she is opposed to the practice of being an evangelical Christian. But her legal team said her denial of service was her right to free speech instead of religious freedom, CNN reported.
Smith’s team says that Colorado law violates the First Amendment by compelling her to engage in speech she disagrees with.
“When you are requiring a speaker to create a message to celebrate something they believe to be false, you are compelling their speech, and it’s affecting their message,” Kristen Waggoner, the attorney representing Smith’s business, said.
But arguments remain in whether or not the websites Smith creates represent her own speech as the creator or the couples as it is their individual stories.
The three Democratic-appointed justices pushed back the argument that the speech on the website was Smith’s. Justice Sonia Sotomayor shared that the website features a couple’s photos and stories, not the creator of the site.
“Show me a page on that website that is an endorsement of a marriage as opposed to the story of a couple,” Sotomayor said to Waggoner.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch pressed the defense on their argument that Smith was using status-based discrimination. He asked Olson a hypothetical question of a speech writer working for someone whom they disagree with.
“You can choose the content of what you say, you just can’t choose who you sell to,” Olson said. “So, you can say, ‘I’m going to focus on these things, but I need to sell that to everyone, even if the person who wants to buy it is a member of a religious faith I disagree with.’”
As for Smith’s team, justices pressed them on where the line is drawn when it comes to denying service.
“You’re saying a print shop, a web designer, a cake maker, a photographer, a jewelry maker, they can refuse to serve anyone they want to refuse because they have a deeply felt belief that serving, taking pictures of Black couples, Black and white couples, taking pictures of disabled people, people are going to believe that they are speaking that message?” Sotomayor said.
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