Supreme Court Justices Argue Free Speech Issue in Anti-Discrimination Case
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Dec. 5 in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a case brought by a Colorado-based website designer who argues that the state’s anti-discrimination law violates her freedom of speech and religion — but her challenge came before the law was enforced against her.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuits reinstated a Minnesota lawsuit brought by two filmmakers who claim that the state’s anti-discrimination laws infringes on their First Amendment […]
Supreme Court Hands Down Ruling in Masterpiece Cake Case
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Jack C. Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakeland, Colorado, who refused to design and create a wedding cake for a celebration of a same-sex marriage saying that a state commission violated the Constitution's protection of religious freedom when it ruled against Phillips. Phillips had claimed that the creation of the cake is artistic expression protected by the First Amendment’s free speech and free exercise of religion clause. The couple and Colorado argued that Phillips’ work on the cake was not expressive conduct according to the law and that the state had a significant interest in preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. “The neutral and respectful consideration to which Phillips was entitled was compromised here,” Justice Kennedy wrote in the decision. “The Civil Rights Commission’s treatment of his case has some elements of a clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs that motivated his objection.”