Dec. 16, Dale Carpenter, Dedman School of Law professor, SMU Dallas, for a piece arguing that Colorado should not be able to coerce web designer Lorie Smith to create online material for a gay couple in the celebrated 303 Creative case before the Supreme Court, because to do so would violate her right to freedom of expression. Published in the Boston Globe under the heading Is web design a form of free speech?: https://tinyurl.com/yckmn88h
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case called 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which raises the question of whether the state of Colorado can force a graphic designer to create websites for same-sex weddings that she opposes. The argument revealed weaknesses in the government’s case, but also a court that may not give the petitioner everything she wants.
In the case, Lorie Smith proposes to create custom websites only for those weddings uniting a man and a woman. But Colorado’s public accommodations law (like those in 28 other states) prohibits businesses from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation in the sale of goods and services to the public.
