WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis, granting businesses that offer to produce custom artistic works and are engaged in expressive conduct a seemingly unprecedented license to discriminate under the First Amendment’s free speech protections. The case involved a Colorado business owner who designs custom wedding websites who sought to deny services to same-sex couples. The Court’s decision today sets dangerous precedent and undermines critical protections that ensure equal access to the full enjoyment of goods and services to all, regardless of their identity. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law—along with the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and eight other civil rights organizations—filed an amicus brief in support of the State of Colorado.
“No business open to the public should be allowed to skirt their legal obligations to not discriminate by claiming freedom of speech. In its decision today, the Supreme Court afforded some businesses the constitutional right to violate civil rights laws so long as they are creating custom artistic works. Public accommodation laws are critically important in ensuring people are not deprived of dignity and equality in everyday life. Sadly, people of color, including those who are LGBTQ+, continue to face pervasive discrimination in the marketplace.,” said Dariely Rodriguez, Deputy Chief Counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “While today’s decision is a setback, we are redoubled in our commitment to ensure that all people – no matter their identity – are protected from discrimination in public accommodations. ”
As part of its past work addressing discrimination in all facets of public and private life, the Lawyers’ Committee filed an amicus brief in the prior Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in which the majority ruled in favor of a baker who denied services to same sex couples.
###
About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org
