303 Creative LLC v. Elenis

It is a violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution for a state to compel speech with which the speaker does not agree.

Petitioner’s business offered website and graphic design services, and Petitioner wanted to include a service for couples seeking wedding websites. These webpages would be “expressive in nature” and “designed to communicate a particular message.” Petitioner feared that she would be compelled to express views that she disagreed with by having to make websites for same-sex couples to comply with a Colorado public accommodations law forbidding businesses from discriminating while selling goods and services to the public. Petitioner sought an injunction to prevent the State from forcing her to create wedding websites celebrating marriages that defy her religious beliefs, arguing this would violate her First Amendment rights. It is a violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution for a state to compel speech with which the speaker does not agree. The Free Speech Clause seeks to protect the “freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think.” Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640, 660-61 (2000). The Court found that while the State has a compelling government interest in securing “equal access to publicly available goods and services” with public accommodations laws, those laws are not immune from the Constitution and sweep too broadly when deployed to compel speech. Therefore, Petitioner could not be compelled to create websites expressing messages she disagrees with. REVERSED.