On Thursday, June 2, 2022, America’s Future along with seven other amici organizations, submitted an Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in support of Appellant in the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (Dkt. No. 21-476). Following a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, 303 Creative, LLC appealed to the SCOTUS for relief.

By way of background, 303 Creative, LLC is a Colorado company owned solely by Ms. Lorrie Smith, a graphic artist specializing in custom website design. According to her SCOTUS Appellate Brief, Ms. Smith provides customers with graphic design solutions consistent with customers goals regarding “branding, marketing strategy, and social-media management.”

Of significant consequence, Ms. Smith is Christian and it is her position that she has every right to advertise and provide products and services to the public in a manner consistent with her sincerely-held religious beliefs. According to her SCOTUS Appellate Brief, “[her]religious beliefs—along with those of other Abrahamic faiths— teach that marriage is only between one man and one woman. For Smith, the marital relationship mirrors Christ’s relationship to the Church and fulfills the complementary nature of God’s first institution. Smith believes that her creative abilities are a gift that must be used in ways that glorify and honor God.”

Consistent with her beliefs, she accepts potential customers as clients based upon “what the message is, not who is requesting it.” To that end, she advertises website creation services for wedding websites limited to traditional marriages between a man and a woman. Because any other type of marital union, including same sex marriages, contravenes her sincerely-held religious beliefs. In her words, creating wedding websites for non-traditional couples, “would compromise my Christian witness and tell a story about marriage that contradicts God’s true story of marriage – the very story He is calling me to promote.”

This case revolves around the “Publication Clause” of Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (“CADA”). As described in Ms. Smith’s SCOTUS filing, CADA’s Publication Clause “makes it unlawful to publish any communication ‘that indicates that…services’ will be declined ‘or that an individual’s patronage or presence…is unwelcome, objectionable, unacceptable, or undesirable because of’ someone’s ‘disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.’”

Familiar and concerned with the length of time it takes to resolve CADA investigations and CADA lawsuits, including the well-known SCOTUS 2018 case concerning the Colorado wedding cake maker, Ms. Smith filed her lawsuit and moved for injunctive relief to prohibit Colorado from restricting her speech and/or compelling her to speak in a manner inconsistent with her sincerely-held beliefs. Lower courts have ruled against Ms. Smith and therefore this case has been ongoing for over six years.

Earlier this year, the SCOTUS granted Certiorari in this litigation, which means our highest court in the land agreed to hear and decide the case on the merits. Notably, the SCOTUS rejected Ms. Smith’s request to have this case decided on both speech and religious grounds, opting instead, to focus its decision solely on the issue of Freedom of Speech. Although the SCOTUS has declined to consider this case in terms of the Free Exercise Clause, it is impractical to think the resolution of this case can somehow evade the issue of religion. Most of the 60+ Amicus Brief filers recognize that the heart of the case arises out of both speech and religion. Our Amicus Brief not only supports Ms. Smith’s position, but also respectfully urges the SCOTUS to “order re-briefing to address the threshold, jurisdictional limits on government recognized in and protected by the Free Exercise Clause.”