The New Republic reports:
Representing the plaintiff—303 Creative, a small business run by a Colorado woman named Lorie Smith—is Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a group whose founder dubbed it a “Christian legal army,” with a long history of opposing civil rights protections for LGBTQ people. But unlike the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which at least involved real customers wanting a real cake, there is no wedding website. No person has hired Smith to create a wedding website. In fact, Smith has never designed a wedding website.
As such, there is no client Smith has told she is rejecting due to her stated religious beliefs that marriage is only allowed between one man and one woman. In the absence of all that, ADF has, instead, fashioned Smith as the victim of an injury that has never occurred. The group has a $76 million annual budget and thousands of attorneys in its network. The goal with 303 Creative, as it was with Masterpiece, is to redefine civil rights protections for LGBTQ people as a form of religious discrimination against Christians.
Read the full article.
Yesterday it was reported that an ADF claim that Smith [photo above] was contacted by gay man seeking a same-sex wedding website is false and that the man in question is straight, was married to a woman at the time, and says that he made no such request.
Later yesterday, however, it was reported that the claim does not appear in the filings before the Supreme Court.
As I’ve said here many times, the ADF invents these businesses with the specific intention of challenging local pro-LGBT ordinances. My first 2016 report on the 303 Creative case is here. And below is today’s ruling.
FIRST op – Gorsuch writes 303 Creative: First Amendment prohibits CO from enforcing the anti-discrimination ordinance against a website designer. 6-3 opinion https://t.co/uVt5cWUiRg
— Leah Litman – @leahlitman.bsky.social (@LeahLitman) June 30, 2023
In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the Court holds “The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.” Justice Gorsuch Opinion.
— Supreme Court Tracker (@SCOTUSTracker) June 30, 2023
The Supreme Court decides in favor of Alliance Defending Freedom and guts civil rights laws in the 303 Creative LLC case.
The 6-3 opinion, with the typical breakdown of Republican appointed ultra-conservatives in the majority, is here:https://t.co/QPB7jmydVF
Dark day.
— Andrew L. Seidel (@AndrewLSeidel) June 30, 2023
BREAKING: Supreme Court rules for web designer who refuses to work on same-sex weddings. https://t.co/hwTFfp1baI
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) June 30, 2023
Out Leadership Condemns U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Diminishing LGBTQ+ Rights in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis Case pic.twitter.com/Y5ugq1VBZI
— Out Leadership (@OutLeadership) June 30, 2023
Let’s be clear: nothing happened to the plaintiff in 303 Creative, the whole “case” was a hypothetical exercise, and the GOP Justices used it as a vehicle to undermine every single federal, state, county, and city anti-discrimination law in the country. https://t.co/LTgg9LRBwY
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) June 30, 2023
The thing that sucks most about the 303 Creative decision is that Smith’s case is entirely a fiction. The entire question is based on a business she doesn’t have being asked to do something they weren’t.
It never should have seen a state court, much less SCOTUS
— Chris supports workers over management (@cokes311) June 30, 2023