The Supreme Court's conservative majority is sounding sympathetic to a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples.
The Supreme Court case arguments today were about free speech and LGBTQ+ rights spurred by a Christina wedding website designer in Colorado.The Supreme Court 's conservative majority sounded sympathetic Monday to a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that's the latest clash of religion and gay rights to land at the highest court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, one of three high court appointees of former President Donald Trump, described Lorie Smith, the website designer in the case, as "an individual who says she will sell and does sell to everyone, all manner of websites, that she won't sell a website that requires her to express a view about marriage that she finds offensive."
"Their policy is that only white children can be photographed with Santa in this way, because that's how they view the scenes with Santa that they're trying to depict," Jackson said.Justice Sonia Sotomayor repeatedly pressed Kristen Waggoner, the lawyer for Smith, over other categories. "How about people who don't believe in interracial marriage? Or about people who don't believe that disabled people should get married? Where's the line?" Sotomayor asked.
The proposed law, which also would protect interracial marriage, has gained momentum following the high court's decision earlier this year to end constitutional protections for abortion. That decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling prompted questions about whether the court - now that it is more conservative - might also overturn its 2015 decision declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly said that decision should be reconsidered.
But offering wedding websites to same-sex couples and refusing to design them for opposite sex couples could get Smith in trouble with state law. Colorado, like most other states, has what's called a public accommodation law that says if Smith offers wedding websites to the public, she must provide them to all customers. Businesses that violate the law can be fined, among other things.
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